


I'll Cover You

by thatwriterlady



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Best Friends, Bisexual Dean Winchester, Bottom Castiel, Bullying, But it's not horrible, Castiel Likes Dean Winchester, Coming Out, Crush, Dean Winchester Likes Castiel, Donkey Kong - Freeform, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Fear of Rejection, First Kiss, First part of story is set in the late 80's, Friends to Lovers, Gay Bashing, Gay Castiel, Happily Ever After, Hence the mentioning of games like Zelda, I'll let you all be the judge of that, Love Confessions, M/M, Mild Angst, My beta says this is fluffier than what I usually write, Self-Discovery, Simon/Kaylee Fluff-a-Thon Challenge, Top Dean, Undiagnosed Asperger's (Castiel), etc - Freeform, friends - Freeform, mostly fluffy goodness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 09:37:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6900655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatwriterlady/pseuds/thatwriterlady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Destiel Prompt based on picture in Chapter One.</p><p>Dean sees a boy standing outside in the rain, no umbrella in hand, trying to hide under a tree to stay dry.  Being raised by Mary Winchester, Dean knows better than to ignore the boy, and he heads outside with his umbrella to share it, and maybe to get to know this boy since he's never seen him before.</p><p>Dean never expected to make the best friend of his life, and he certainly didn't expect their friendship to grow and turn into something much bigger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Caught in the Rain

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, I wrote ANOTHER one. I just hope it's decent. I lacked faith in it, but my lovely Beta, to whom I owe so very much, swears it's good. I believe her, she has never steered me wrong. So that being said, I leave this for you all to read. I just saw this precious little picture and to me it screamed DESTIEL. So I ran with it. Enjoy!

  
[](http://imgur.com/Jl4n4ep)  


“Dean! Sam! Hurry up or you’ll be late again!” Mary leaned over the railing and yelled up to her sons. 

“Mom, I have almost thirty minutes until the bus comes.” Dean rolled his eyes as he came trotting down the stairs. She gritted her teeth, her nostrils flaring. Her oldest was really starting to get sassy.

“Go eat your breakfast.” She pointed at the kitchen, and he marched past her. “Sam!” she yelled up the stairs.

“Coming, Mommy!” Her younger son came rushing down the stairs a moment later.

When Mary walked into the kitchen a few minutes later, she found Dean standing at the window with his bowl of cereal in hand. He was staring out, though at what, she couldn’t tell.

“Hey, Mom? Would it be ok if I went out to the bus stop early?” He turned to look at her, and she paused in setting a bowl and a box of cereal down in front of Sam.

“Why? It’s raining.” Beyond the glass the sky had opened up and it was pouring.

“There’s a boy outside at the bus stop, and he doesn’t have an umbrella. He’s trying to hide under Mrs. Sanders’ oak tree, but he’s getting wet anyway. I want to share my umbrella,” he replied. Mary’s heart felt full hearing her son say that. She nodded.

“Hurry then; put your bowl in the sink and get moving.”

Dean dropped his half-finished bowl in the sink and hurried to put his jacket on. He shrugged his backpack on and grabbed his umbrella. Sam had his own umbrella and could walk the fifty feet to the bus stop when he was done eating. In the meantime, Dean planned to go help the other boy. 

Out on the covered front porch, Dean paused long enough to open the umbrella and then he was running, avoiding puddles that, were he _not_ about to head to school, he would normally revel in jumping in on the way to the bus stop and the boy who was trying so hard to not get poured on.

“Hey!” he called out as he slowed down. The other boy looked up with wide eyes, and Dean was momentarily stunned by not only how big they were but by how blue they were too. He stopped and without saying anything more he leaned closer and put his umbrella over the other boy’s head so that it was covering them both.

“T-Thanks. It was close to soaking through my jacket,” the other boy said softly.

“No problem. I saw you out here, and I could see you were getting all wet. How come you don’t have an umbrella?” Dean asked. The boy looked shyly down at the tops of his sneakers, which Dean could see were wet and probably soaked through already.

“Mine broke, and my dad won’t buy me a new one.”

“That’s ok, I’ll cover you. What’s your name?” Dean was curious. He’d never seen this boy before.

“Castiel. I just moved here. Today is my first day. This is the right bus stop to go to Jefferson?” He looked up at Dean again with those bright blue eyes. There was a weird feeling in his stomach when he looked at the other boy, and it didn’t feel like his usual nervousness. Dean nodded.

“Yeah, this is the right stop.” 

“What’s your name?” The boy asked.

“I’m Dean. This is my house.” He pointed at his house, which was only two down from the bus stop.

“Oh, then we are neighbors as well. That’s my house.” Castiel pointed to the house five down from where they stood. Dean could see the Realtor sign still in the front yard that said “sold.”

“Cool. What grade are you in?” Dean asked.

“Sixth.” 

Dean was surprised that this boy was actually ahead of him considering he had almost a full head over him.

“I’m in fifth.”

“Dean!”

Keeping the umbrella over himself and Castiel, Dean turned to see Sam running towards them.

“Watch out for the puddles! Mom will kill you if you step in them and catch a chill,” Dean warned. Sam looked down then, carefully sidestepping anything that looked like a puddle. He stopped when he reached his brother.

“This is my little brother, Sam. Sam, this is Cas; he’s our new neighbor.” Dean introduced. The other boy’s eyes widened again at hearing Dean shorten his name.

“Hi! I’m in first grade!” Sam said excitedly. Castiel smiled at the little boy’s enthusiasm.

“It’s nice to meet you, Sam.”

“What grade are you in? Dean’s in fifth,” Sam said. Castiel smiled a little wider.

“I know, he told me. I’m in sixth.” 

“Cool! That means you go to the middle school with Dean. I can’t wait to go there too!” Sam exclaimed. “Do you have brothers or sisters?” 

“I do. I have two older brothers, an older sister and a younger sister. My brother Michael is in college but my brother Gabriel and my sister Naomi are still in high school. My younger sister Anna is in afternoon kindergarten, so I will have to bring her home on the bus with me,” Castiel replied. Sam’s eyes lit up.

“Do you play video games?”

Castiel chuckled and looked at Dean, who grinned.

“Sorry, he loves to ask a million questions,” Dean apologized.

“It’s quite alright. My little sister does the same thing,” Castiel said before turning back to Sam. “The answer to that is I would like to, but we do not own a game system. My mother won’t let us have one in the house.”

“You can come over and play at my house. I have three different systems and tons of games,” Dean said. “Sammy tries to play with me, but he’s not very good.”

“Hey!” Sam shot his brother a dirty look, which just made Dean laugh. 

“Sorry, it’s true.”

“I’m trying!” Sam pouted. He tried to cross his arms and accidentally moved his umbrella away. Cold rain slid down the back of the little boy’s neck, and he yelped in surprise. Dean leaned over to right his umbrella again.

“Hold it up, Sammy!”

Sam used both hands after that. Dean turned back to Castiel. Those blue eyes were watching him again, and for some reason it was making Dean’s stomach feel all funny. 

“You probably don’t want to hang around with a fifth grader…”

“Yes, I do!” Castiel blurted, his cheeks quickly turning red as he ducked his head shyly. “I-I don’t have any friends.”

“You’ll make friends though, in sixth-” Dean tried to argue, but the other boy was shaking his head vehemently.

“No, I won’t. People don’t like me. I didn’t have any friends at my old school.” Castiel sounded so sad that Dean just wanted to wrap him up in a tight hug like he did when Sam was upset. He instead settled for resting a hand on the other boy’s shoulder and giving it a light squeeze.

“I like you just fine, Cas. I’ll be your friend, and I’ll introduce you to some of mine, but to warn you, most of them are not in sixth.”

Castiel looked up at him again, smiling shyly. “That’s ok, I would like to meet your friends, if they’re nice. And...I would like to come and play video games.”

Dean’s stomach felt like there were birds flapping around madly inside of it as he looked at the other boy. In the distance he spotted the school bus coming. He smiled at Castiel.

“That’s awesome. I’ll teach you how to play.”


	2. A New Friend

Castiel survived his morning classes, but aside from a few girls saying hi no one had really talked to him. He was still very uncomfortable and no matter how hard he looked around in the halls between classes for Dean, he didn’t see him. Dean was nice, the first person he’d met in a very long time that didn’t treat him like he was weird or dumb. He wasn’t, at least, he didn’t _think_ he was. He got all A’s in school. Dumb people didn’t do that, did they? And what was really so wrong with being weird? So what if jokes were hard to get? Most of them weren’t funny anyway. 

By lunch his stomach was twisted in knots. When he walked into the cafeteria, he froze. All the tables were filled with kids talking and eating. There was nowhere for him to sit. And he couldn’t pick Dean out in this crowd even if he tried. Movement out of the corner of his eye made him turn, and the sudden rush of relief at seeing a familiar face was overwhelming. Here was Dean, weaving through the tables and coming towards him. The same strange fluttering he’d felt this morning was back again as the other boy smiled. Dean was really cute. Was he supposed to think that? Could boys think other boys were cute? His mother hadn’t said they couldn’t, so he decided it was ok. Dean was really cute with his sandy brown hair, green eyes and freckles. And Dean made him feel safe for some reason, like it was ok to be here in this new school. And he really, really wanted a friend.

Dean found himself looking in the halls for Castiel, but it wasn’t until lunch that he spotted the other boy again. It was hard to miss the boy standing in the corner, a paper bag clutched to his chest, his dark hair sticking up everywhere as he looked around with wide, frightened eyes. Dean got up from his seat and walked over. As soon as Castiel spotted him a look of relief replaced the fear, though he still seemed nervous.

“Hey, Cas. Come on, you can sit with me.”

Castiel gave a small smile and followed Dean back to his table.

“Hey guys? This is Cas. He just moved to town and lives a few houses down from me,” Dean announced. He sat down and patted the seat next to him. Castiel sat down and looked nervously at the other kids sitting at the table. All eyes were on him, and everyone looked curious.

“Ok, so this is Benny. He’s _supposed_ to be in sixth, but his English wasn’t so good so he’s still in fifth.” Dean grinned at his friend, a rather large boy that looked more like he belonged in high school than middle school. The other boy laughed and flipped Dean off before turning to look at Castiel.

“My English is just fine. The teachers are just stupid,” Benny’s drawl was thick, and Castiel could hear the Cajun French in it quite strongly.

“Are you from Louisiana?” he asked. Benny’s face lit up and he smiled.

“I am. My mère, um mother? She is from France. My father is from Lousiana. They met when my father was backpacking through Europe with some friends the summer before he turned eighteen. They fell in love and instead of moving to Canada like she had planned, she came to America and moved to Louisiana. We lived there my whole life, until last year we moved here for my mother’s job and, well, English is not the language spoken in my house. My English is just fine but they have a problem with the fact that it takes me a moment to translate the words when I’m reading.”

“That makes sense. Russian was the first language in my house,” Castiel said. 

“Then you know how it is.” Benny laughed. Castiel smiled and nodded.

“I can read, write and speak Russian. English came easier to me than to my brother Gabriel, but he did pick it up pretty quickly. My sister Anna has only just been learning it in time to start kindergarten.”

“Hi, I’m Jo, Dean’s cousin. It’s nice to meet you.” A small blonde girl that Castiel knew couldn’t possibly be in fifth, she was just too small, waved from across the table.

“Jo’s in third,” Dean added.

“It’s nice to meet you. And you as well, Benny.” Castiel nodded politely at them both.

“I’m Charlie. I’m in fifth too.” A girl with the reddest hair Castiel had ever seen in his life stuck her hand out at him. He shook it and smiled.

“Hello, Charlie.”

“That’s Ash with the comic book over there and the skinny kid in the striped shirt is Garth. Ash is in sixth, Garth is in fifth.” Dean pointed each boy out. Ash saluted him and Garth waved.

“Nice to meet you, Cas,” Garth said.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Castiel replied. Ash closed his comic book and finally looked up.

“Hey, you’re in my English class. And maybe my math class.” He laughed. Castiel wasn’t sure, he’d really been too scared to look around at the other kids.

“Maybe? I apologize, I was so nervous I was staring at the floor when I was introduced in each class.”

“It’s cool, man. They’re dull anyway. I know all of the material. They talked about putting me ahead a grade last year, but they think I’m too lazy, so they left me where I am,” Ash said with a grin.

“You’re not doing the homework?” Castiel asked.

“I know it all. It’s so redundant and boring,” Ash replied. Castiel got the impression that the other boy was a genius who was not being challenged enough, so he wasn’t trying anymore. Dean bumped his shoulder lightly against Castiel, pulling the boy’s attention back to him.

“So, you gonna come over after school? We can play Zelda or Mario Brothers or Donkey Kong…”

Castiel heard the words coming out of Dean’s mouth, and he knew they were video games but he had no idea what they were. Sometimes he hated how strict his mother was. She did encourage him to make friends, though, and his brothers and sisters were always allowed to go to other kids’ houses, so maybe if he left out the fact that he was going over to play video games his mother would be ok with him hanging out with another kid. He smiled tentatively and nodded.

“I think my mother would be alright with it, as long as I don’t tell her we’re playing video games.” He had opened his bag and unwrapped his peanut butter and jelly sandwich but had not started eating yet. Dean had a turkey sandwich and was already halfway done with it.

“Hurry and eat, dude, we only have ten minutes left,” Dean urged. Castiel practically inhaled his sandwich and the carrot sticks his mother hand packed. He pocketed the grapes and hoped he could munch on them during his afternoon classes without getting caught.

“Where you headed next?” Dean asked as the bell rang, and they walked together to the garbage to throw out their empty bags.

“Gym.” Castiel frowned. He hated gym. No one ever picked him for teams and when they were forced to, they were mean to him. Dean’s face lit up though.

“Yeah? Me too! We actually will have a class together! Come on!” 

Dean practically dragged him to the gym and into the boy’s locker room where he took Castiel’s books and put them into a locker with his own books. Together they walked back into the gym. Castiel looked around nervously, noting all the eyes watching him. He really hated being the new kid.

“We’re doing dodgeball today. You ever play?” Dean asked. Castiel groaned and turned to look at him with a pained expression.

“Yes, and the other kids always target me. I learned how to move really fast because the jerks at my old school would all aim for me at the same time. It hurts when you’re getting hit with like, twenty balls at once!”

Dean didn’t like the worried expression on his new friend’s face. He placed a hand on the other boy’s shoulder and leveled him with a serious look.

“Hey, I won’t let them, ok? I’m almost always a team captain, so I’ll protect you.”

“You don’t have to do that, Dean.” Castiel appreciated the gesture but he didn’t want to be a burden.

“We’re friends, and I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, ok?” Dean had a stubborn streak. He blamed his mom.

Castiel smiled. “But what if you’re not a captain, and we end up on opposite teams?”

“I promise to never hit you with a ball. And I’ll make sure my teammates go easy too.”

“Winchester! You’re captain of the blue team!” The gym teacher yelled. Dean grinned.

“I choose Castiel!”


	3. A Real Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out when Castiel speaks to his family in Russian, it will be marked in italics.

For the first time in his life, Castiel had a _real_ friend. Dean wasn’t fake like Zach and Rafe at his old school, using him just so they could make fun of him later on, or like Hael who had only pretended to like him just so she could get him to give her the answers for their math homework. When he wouldn’t give them, she got just as mean as the other kids. They had called him weird, stupid, and once, someone had even called him crazy. He struggled to get their jokes and most of the topics they talked about were things he knew nothing about, like video games, television shows, comics…

He went home crying almost every day, and it took his mother and sister both to calm him down. His brother Gabriel told him there was nothing wrong with him, he just processed things a little different than most other kids, and that it was ok to be different. Castiel wanted desperately to believe him, but the teasing and bullying continued every day at school. When his father got the new job and they moved here, he expected the new kids to be just as cruel as they had been at his old school. But then he had met Dean. When he had come home that afternoon excited to tell his mother he had made a friend, she had actually cried tears of joy. 

_“A real friend? Not someone who will use you?”_ she had asked, defaulting to her native Russian when she spoke to her children. He had nodded eagerly, smiling so wide his cheeks hurt.

_“Yes! His name is Dean and he lives only a few houses down! He’s really, really nice, Mama. He invited me over, can I please go?”_

His mother had smiled, her blue eyes shimmering with tears of joy as she cupped his face and leaned in to kiss his forehead.

_“Yes, you go, have fun. Papa will be home at seven, and that is when we will have dinner. You be here for that.”_

He nodded and grabbed his bag as he shot out the door. The rain had stopped and the puddles from that morning had dried up so there was no concern for his shoes as he ran down the street. Dean was waiting on his front porch, his face lighting up when he saw Castiel running towards him.

“Your mom said you could come over?”

Castiel nodded as he slowed to a fast walk and hurried up Dean’s walkway.

“Yeah, she told me I have to be home by the time my dad gets home from work,” he replied.

“Well come on in, my mom wants to meet you.” Dean brought his friend into the house and straight into the kitchen, where Mary Winchester was checking something in the oven. 

“Hey, Mom? This is Cas, he was the one standing out in the rain this morning,” he said. She closed the oven door and turned to look at them. Her smile was warm and immediately put Castiel at ease.

“Well hello there, it’s so nice to meet you. Dean says you moved in down the street. The old Pullman place, I’m guessing. Is it just you and your parents?” she asked.

“No, Ma’am. I have two older brothers, an older sister, and a younger sister. My brother Michael is away at college, but he comes home every summer for a few weeks,” Castiel replied.

“Oh, big family!” Mary’s laughter was light, and he knew she wasn’t laughing _at_ him. Sometimes he had a hard time figuring out when people were laughing _with_ him and when they were laughing _at_ him, but she was easy to read. “I’m sure Dean told you it’s just his dad, him, me, and his brother, Sam.”

Castiel nodded. “Yes, and I met Sam at the bus stop this morning too.”

Mary’s smile was beautiful. She looked like the angels in his mother’s art books. Somehow she was making him feel warm and welcome, just like Dean did.

“Where did you move from? Are you from here in Lawrence?” she asked. He shook his head.

“No, we’re from Illinois, but my dad is an engineer and he got a better job running a car plant here.”

“Does your mom work?” Mary inquired. Dean rolled his eyes. He knew his mom wouldn’t stop until she was satisfied with the answers she got.

“No, my mom still struggles with English. She came here from Russia when she was nineteen and met my father a year later. My father already knew how to speak Russian because his grandmother was from there, but he isn’t very patient in teaching her English, so she sort of gave up. And we all speak Russian too. She does try though. Back home she worked in a Russian-owned dry cleaner, but that was before my sister Anna was born. She’s thinking of taking an ESL class so she can go back to work.”

“Well good for her! English is a hard language to learn, so I commend her for trying.” Mary gave him another warm smile, and he smiled back. She was nice. Dean saw the opportunity to steal his new friend away.

“Come on, we’ll go play Zelda. He’s never played a video game before, Mom!” Dean looked horrified for a moment before breaking into a grin and winking at Castiel. Mary shook her head, smiling fondly at her son.

“Go on then, play your games, but make sure your homework gets done too,” she called after them as Dean dragged him up the stairs to the second floor.

“Will do!” Dean yelled.


	4. Coming of Age

Somehow this became their routine. Castiel would come over after school and they would work on their homework to get it out of the way, and then he would let Dean teach him how to play the different video games he had. Sometimes Dean would come over to his house instead, and after homework and a snack, they would play a board game or a card game. That was how Dean learned to play chess. Apparently all of the Novak kids were excellent chess players, even little Anna, who kicked Dean’s butt quite a few times while he was learning to get the hang of it. For his twelfth birthday, he even surprised his parents by asking for a chess set of his own. When Castiel wasn’t around to play with him, he’d get Charlie or Benny to come over and play. Charlie picked up on the game pretty quickly, learning the various patterns and learning how to anticipate moves. Soon she was kicking his butt. Just for fun, he decided to pit her against Anna, and to his shock, Charlie won. Benny tried to get the hang of it, and in all fairness, he turned out to not be terrible. He still lost about ninety percent of the time to Dean and a hundred percent of the time to Castiel, but they played all in good fun and no one made anyone else feel stupid, something Castiel was extremely grateful for. 

A month before the school year ended, Dean’s dad bought a new pool for the backyard. It was a real pool, not the pathetic blow up ones he had bought in the past, so both he and Castiel were eager to help him install it and get it filled. Once John gave the all clear, the boys were in that water, swimming and playing. Castiel couldn’t remember a happier time in his entire life. Sometimes Anna came to swim with Sam, and they ended up becoming good friends too. 

John and Mary had gone down to introduce themselves to Castiel’s parents, and it wasn’t long before they too had made friends with Edward and Tanya Novak. Despite the language barrier with Tanya, she and Mary spent long hours together, cooking, gardening, shopping, and they worked together to teach one another their native language. Tanya found English easier to learn when it came from someone as patient as Mary, and Mary was fascinated and excited to learn to speak Russian. Even Dean picked up some here and there, though he was never quite good enough at it to hold an entire conversation.

The next school year was less worrisome for Castiel with Dean by his side. They were excited to have lunch and gym together again, but being a year apart, they didn’t have anything else together. Castiel decided to go out for the track team, and Dean was upset that he couldn’t try out too. It was only for seventh- and eighth-graders, but Castiel assured him that he could try out the following year and they could run together. In the meantime Dean ran in the mornings with his friend and on the weekends. He was sure that with a whole year of extra practice, they’d have to let him on the team. To his delight, the following year he found himself running alongside his best friend on the team. It served only to bring them closer together.

The summer between Dean’s seventh- and eighth-grade years was full of a lot of turmoil. Charlie’s mother had been Mary’s best friend from college and was a big reason as to why Charlie was one of Dean’s best friends. Two weeks after school let out, Gertrude was side swiped by a semi and killed. Charlie was left with no living family. Mary was her godmother and immediately stepped in to become her legal guardian. That was how Dean’s friend became his sister. Suddenly he and Sam were sharing a room, and his privacy was gone completely. He talked his dad into letting him move down to the basement, and that became the project that he, Castiel, and John worked on almost the entire summer. Castiel was just glad to be included. He felt welcome in the Winchester house. He felt like family.

Dean had quickly become Castiel’s best friend. Right from the moment they first had met, and even though he had managed to make a few other friends, Dean was still the person he felt most comfortable around and was the person he wanted to spend the majority of his time with. He was thankful that Dean felt the same way. Though Dean was popular, and people generally tended to flock to the boy with the light brown hair and bright green eyes, he chose to spend the majority of his time with Castiel. 

Now though, Castiel was heading into high school. Granted, Ash would be there, and they had become pretty good friends, it felt scary knowing Dean wouldn’t be there with him that first year. His brother Gabriel and his sister Naomi were, though. She was a senior and had made sure he knew his way around the school and had introduced him to a few people. Gabriel was supposed to have graduated the prior year, but due to a near fatal car accident the year before that took him almost six months to fully recover from, he hadn’t graduated on time and was now finishing up the last of the credits he needed to graduate. He had pretty much done the same with his friends, introducing them to his little brother and warning them to watch out for him. 

Naomi’s friend Ruby had a sister named Meg who was a freshman like him, and once they were introduced the girl just wouldn’t leave him alone. She made him highly uncomfortable as he couldn’t read her well. It always felt like she was making fun of him, and he found himself feeling like he had back when his family had lived in Illinois. He went out of his way to avoid her, but it was to no avail, she was in most of his classes. 

After school he would head straight to Dean’s, and his friend would always listen when he complained about her. They would lay back on Dean’s bed, staring at the glow-in-the-dark solar system stickers that Dean had put up on the ceiling shortly after moving to the basement, and talk about girls. Dean had a girl by the name of Rhonda who had been flirting with him, and he told Castiel about her. Hearing Dean talk about Rhonda left him with a strange, twisted feeling in his gut that he couldn’t quite figure out. For some reason it left him with this deep dislike for the girl that he couldn’t understand, seeing as how he had never met her. 

“Do you like her?” He remembered asking Dean one night when he had spent the entire weekend.

“I dunno. She’s pretty. And she’s nice. Benny said he heard she’ll...you know.” 

Castiel frowned. “No, I’m afraid I don’t know.”

Dean was glad the lights were off because he was blushing so hard his cheeks were burning.

“She’ll...put her mouth…. _you know_.”

For a moment Castiel lay there wondering what Dean meant. Then it dawned on him.

“Oh! She gives blow jobs!”

“Shh! I don’t want my parents to hear you!” Dean hissed.

“Sorry!” Castiel whispered. Dean leaned over to the other bed (His dad had gone out and purchased an extra twin bed for Castiel since he spent the night so much, so he wouldn’t have to sleep on the basement floor.) and patted his friend’s arm to reassure him.

“It’s ok. I know.” And he did. He had figured out pretty early on all of his friend’s quirks. The things that people at his old school had made fun of him for just made him interesting as far as Dean was concerned. Castiel had said kids in the past had accused him of not having a sense of humor. Dean found that to be completely untrue. In fact, his friend had a wicked and rather twisted sense of humor, and he was highly sarcastic, which tended to go over people’s heads, but Dean got his sense of humor perfectly. Kids had called him dumb because he couldn’t catch jokes. That one took Dean a little longer to work out. It wasn’t that his friend wasn’t getting the jokes, it was that he was having difficulty understanding the difference between when people were joking and when they were making fun of him, and with most people he had adopted this mindset where he would assume they were just making fun of him and wouldn’t give them the reactions they expected. But he got Dean’s jokes, and he got Charlie’s and Benny’s and Ash’s, and those of the rest of their friends, because he had the time to get to know them, to understand how each one of them liked to joke, and suddenly he had just started to catch on. Jokes had him laughing so hard most of the time that he would be doubled over, wheezing and crying as he tried to catch his breath, and God how Dean loved to see his friend happy like that. Castiel had been so scared and so sad when they’d first met. In the three years that they had been friends it had been like watching the rarest, most beautiful rose slowly open its petals in an awe-inspiring bloom. He liked to think that he had something to do with that.

“But do you _like_ her? Do you want her to...do _that_ to you?” Castiel had asked. And that was really the big question, wasn’t it? Dean sure as hell wanted to be touched there. He was a horny, hormonal, almost fourteen-year-old boy. Of course he _wanted_ hands and mouths on his dick. The question was, did he want _Rhonda’s_ hands and mouth on it.

“I mean, she’s ok. I’m sort of grossed out by the fact that she sucked like, six guys I know. Isn’t that gross?”

“If they were my friends I think I would be bothered by it. It would be like it was their dick touching my dick,” Castiel said. Dean mulled that over for a minute. The thought made him shudder.

“Yeah, cause she gave Crowley a bj last week. And last month, she gave Alistair like three. I don’t want her to touch mine.” 

Castiel snickered. “Meg won’t leave me alone. I’m afraid she’s going to insist that I take her to homecoming. But I don’t want to go with her.” 

Dean turned his head in the dark and though he couldn’t see his friend well, he could still make out the outline of his body in the bed next to his, and he could tell that Castiel’s face was turned in his direction.

“Is there a girl you wanna take?” Dean’s stomach clenched at the thought. He’d been trying to work through his feelings towards his friend since they day they had met, and after having a long talk with Brian from his English class, the only kid he knew for sure was gay, he had realized he liked boys as much as he liked girls. Maybe even more so. And he liked Castiel. He kept that little bit to himself though. The last thing he wanted to do was scare his best friend and push him away.

“I don’t….” Castiel sighed and even in the dark Dean could see him shaking his head. “I don’t really like any girls.”

“Oh. That’s cool too. I don’t either,” Dean said. 

“But do you like girls? Like, at all?” Castiel asked.

“Well, sure. I dated Emily last year, and Laura,” Dean replied. Castiel was glad his friend couldn’t see him frowning angrily in the dark. It had upset him terribly each time Dean had dated those girls, and it had lasted the entire length of each relationship. He hadn’t understood why, so he had asked his brother Gabriel. His brother had told him it was because he was attracted to Dean, and was jealous. It was his first real experience with the emotion, and he had found it incredibly unpleasant.

“I...don’t like girls,” he said softly. “Please don’t hate me,” he pleaded. Dean sat up in his bed and turned on the lamp on his nightstand. When he looked over at the other bed, he found Castiel cowering under his blankets.

“I don’t hate you. I could never hate you, so stop that. When you say you don’t like girls, are you saying you’re gay?”

“I don’t know.” It came out as a frustrated whine. Dean knew his friend was upset. He patted his own bed.

“Come here.”

“Why?” Castiel asked as he slowly pushed the covers back and sat up.

“You’re upset. Imma do what I do when Sammy is upset. Come here and lay down.” Dean patted the bed a second time, and Castiel dragged his pillow and blanket with him. Dean had a queen bed and there was plenty of room for them both and once Castiel had his pillow and blanket comfortable, Dean held out his arms. Castiel thought maybe it was a bit unusual for his friend to want to hold him, but he’d been dying to know what it would feel like to be in Dean’s arms for longer than a quick hug. Once he laid down close, Dean reached over and turned the lamp off again. He pulled Castiel closer and to the other boy’s surprise, he began to sing softly.

“What is that? It sounds familiar,” Castiel whispered.

“It’s Hey Jude. My mom always sings it, and she sang it to me a lot when I was little. If I had a nightmare or I was sick, or I was upset, she would sing that to me. I sing it to Sammy when he’s upset, and I’ll do it for you too. You’re my best friend, Cas. I could never hate you, ok? You don’t have to be scared around me. Besides, I kinda have my own secret.”

Castiel tilted his head back so he could see Dean’s face. “You do?”

“Yeah. I talked to my gay friend cause I was sorta confused,” Dean replied.

“What, are you gay?” That thought made Castiel’s heart start beating faster.

“No, not exactly. I...think I’m bisexual.”

Castiel frowned again in confusion. “I don’t know what that is.”

“My friend says it means I like girls, but I also like boys,” Dean explained.

“Oh.” Castiel mulled that over for a while. If Dean liked boys, maybe Dean liked him too. “Is there a boy you like then?” He felt the way Dean tensed up, and his friend’s heartbeat increased. 

“Yeah, there is.” 

Suddenly Castiel was afraid to ask who his crush might be. If it wasn’t him, he thought his heart might break into a million pieces. He buried his face against Dean’s neck and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Will you sing to me some more?”

“Yeah, of course I will.” Dean sighed, and then he began to sing. Castiel was lulled by the words, but mostly it was the feeling of safety at being in Dean’s arms that had him tumbling over the edge into a blissful sleep.


	5. Learning to Stand Up For One's Self

They didn’t bring up the subject of Dean’s crush again and two weeks later Castiel was over again, pacing Dean’s bedroom. Dean could see how agitated his friend was, but so far, Castiel wasn’t telling him why.

“Come on, tell me what the heck is going on with you,” he pleaded. 

“It’s-” Castiel ran his fingers through his hair, tugging on it so hard Dean was afraid he’d yank it out by the handful.

“Stop pacing and just tell me!” Dean cried. Castiel came to a dead stop and looked at him with wide eyes. The terror in them scared Dean to see.

“Naomi’s making me take Meg to homecoming! Ruby is going with this guy Chase and Naomi is going with her boyfriend Bruce, and Ruby doesn’t want Meg to go stag, so my sister’s making _me_ take her!” 

Suddenly Dean was right on board with his friend’s terror.

“Shit! Well, doesn’t Naomi know you don’t like Meg like that?”

“Yes! But Meg apparently likes _me_ like that! I thought this whole time that she was insulting me, but Ash says that’s her way of flirting. I don’t know what to do!” Castiel was tugging at his hair again, so Dean got up from his bed and grabbed his friend’s hands, pulling them away from his hair. He held them down as Castiel continued to experience one of the worst anxiety attacks he’d ever witnessed.

“No, you’re not taking her,” he said firmly. Castiel looked up at him in confusion.

“But she says I have to!”

“No, you don’t. If you don’t want to take her, then you’re not taking her. Naomi can’t tell you who you can and can’t date. You don’t like Meg. You like boys. I know your sister doesn’t know that, and you don’t have to tell her if you don’t want to, but she doesn’t control you. You’re your own person, so stop letting her force you into things that make you uncomfortable. Come on, we’ll go and take care of this right now. She’s home, right?” Dean dropped one of Castiel’s hands, but he still had a firm grip on one of the other boy’s wrists as he dragged him up the stairs and to the front door, where they paused long enough to put their coats on.

“Where are you two going, exactly?” Mary asked. She had seen them march past the kitchen and the expression on both boys’ faces had alarmed her.

“Cas’ sister Naomi told him he has to take this girl Meg to homecoming, but Cas doesn’t like Meg. She triggers his anxiety and makes him uncomfortable, so I’m going with him so he can stand up for himself and tell her he’s not going to take Meg. I told him he can’t let other people control him like that. Right, Mom?” Dean was looking at her, and she could see the fierce determination in her son’s eyes as well as the protectiveness he felt towards Cas. She’d suspected the boys liked one another as more than just a friend, but they were young and still working through what they were feeling. She wasn’t going to put either of them on the spot and possibly ruin their friendship if by chance she were wrong. Even if she knew she wasn’t wrong. It was obvious in the way they looked at one another, and how they acted around one another. 

“You’re absolutely right. If you don’t like this Meg girl, then don’t go out with her. And don’t be afraid to say no. You’re in control of your life, not Naomi, not anyone. So hold your head up high and stand your ground. If your sister is mean about it, tell her she should have asked you, not told you, and remind her that in the future you do not want her telling you what to do. If she wants a favor, she needs to ask you, and then wait for you to decide what you want to do. You’ll be ok, sweetheart. Dean will support you, but you need to be the one to tell your sister. Not him, or she won’t take you seriously.”

Castiel nodded, his anxiety still quite obvious. He rocked lightly on his heels as he twisted his fingers. “I don’t want her to be mad at me.”

“So what if she gets mad? She screwed up here, not you. Come on, it’ll only take a few minutes and then we’ll come back here and play Sonic, ok?” Dean’s expression softened and Castiel looked at him for a long moment before his shoulders slumped and he nodded.

“Yeah. Homecoming is next weekend, and my sister says Meg already picked out a dress. I feel bad about that.”

“It’s not your fault. Don’t feel bad,” Mary told him. He gave her a weak smile as he stepped out onto the porch with Dean.

“I will try to be firm.”

“Good for you, honey. Come back and let me know how it goes.” She closed the door behind them and said a silent prayer that everything worked out in Castiel’s favor.


	6. Bravery

Naomi and her boyfriend, Bruce, were sitting in the family room watching a movie when Castiel and Dean walked in. Gabriel was stretched out in an armchair ignoring the lovebirds, but he looked up when his brother and Dean walked in.

“I need to talk to you,” Castiel said to his sister. She sat up a bit and looked at him.

“About what?”

Castiel glanced nervously back at Dean, who smiled encouragingly and motioned for him to get on with it, so he turned back to look at his sister.

“I’m not taking Meg to homecoming.”

Naomi sat completely up, her blue eyes turning stormy. “The hell you’re not! Meg already has her dress and Mama already ordered the corsage you’re giving her!”

“No! I am not taking her!” Castiel was close to hysterical by that point, and his hands were back in his hair again. “You never asked me if I wanted to take her! You just told me I was doing it, and I don’t want to! I don’t like Meg that way; she makes me very uncomfortable and anxious, and I don’t even like being around her, but you expect me to go to a school dance with her? Where I’ll be expected to hold her as we dance and what, am I supposed to _kiss_ her too? Because she’s going to expect that, and I don’t want to! Don’t you understand?! I’m stressing out because of this, and you don’t even care!” he screamed. Dean tugged his hands out of his hair again as Castiel began trembling violently. 

“You _told_ him he had to take her? Did you even stop to think about what he wanted?” Gabriel snapped as he got up and walked over to his brother. He pulled Castiel into a hug and rubbed his back gently. His little brother clung to him as he tried to calm himself down. Naomi sat on the couch, her jaw dropped in shock.

“What is this yelling? Castiel? What is wrong?” Tanya hurried to her son and pulled him out of Gabriel’s arms. Speaking rapidly in Russian, Castiel filled his mother in on what had just happened. Tanya frowned and pulled her son to her bosom, stroking her fingers through his hair as he burst into tears. Her blue eyes were filled anger and pain for her youngest son. She turned to look at her daughter.

 _“Why, Naomi? Why would you tell him he has to take a girl that he does not like to a dance he never said he wanted to go to? That was wrong. You will call this Meg and tell her that Castiel will not be taking her. Do it now, while I am listening. You will tell her that you were making him, and that he never agreed to it.”_ Tanya snapped, still speaking in Russian. Dean was lost. He’d caught a handful of words and to the best of his knowledge, his friend’s mother was chastising Naomi.

 _“But Mama! Meg likes Castiel very much! She wants him to be her boyfriend!”_ Naomi replied, automatically slipping into Russian. Castiel’s head snapped up, his eyes filled with a fury not even Dean had witnessed before.

 _“No! I don’t like her and I will absolutely **not** be her or any other girl’s boyfriend! I DON’T LIKE GIRLS!”_ he shouted. Dean caught the look of confusion on Bruce’s face, and the look of surprise on Gabriel’s. He had caught only about an eighth of what his friend was saying, but he had definitely caught that last part. He froze and looked at Tanya, who looked mildly startled, and Dean found himself standing there holding his breath as he waited to see what would happen next.

“Uh…” Gabriel rubbed nervously at the back of his neck as he watched his mother and brother carefully. Castiel realized he had basically just come out to his brother, sister and mother, and suddenly a new wave of anxiety hit. His wheezing got worse and Tanya reacted immediately. She pulled him close again, murmuring softly in his ear to calm him down. Dean caught bits and pieces of what she was saying.

_“It’s ok, darling, I love you. I will always love you. You’re mama’s sweet angel. Don’t be scared. Papa loves you too; we all do. It’s ok.”_

Naomi looked mildly ashamed as she stood up, smoothing down her shirt as she walked over to the phone. Before she dialed the number she looked over at her brother.

 _“I’m sorry, Castiel. I didn’t know. If I had, I never would have set you up with her. I won’t ever do it again,”_ she promised. Castiel wiped at his eyes and nose, humiliated with himself for reacting the way he had. He looked over at Dean who had long ago learned to wait until a conversation was finished so his friend could explain what had been said.

“Are you ok?” Dean asked. Castiel sniffled and gave a small smile as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m ok. I-I didn’t know I could be that strong.”

 _“Castiel, what is Dean?”_ Tanya asked, still speaking in her native tongue. Her son’s eyes widened, and his entire face turned beet red.

 _“He is my best friend, Mama!”_ he cried in Russian. She smiled and nodded.

_“It is ok. We are not in Russia anymore. Things are different here, they are better. I could never deny you, darling. If you like him, I will not be mad. Dean is family. He is a good boy, and your Papa and I like him very much.”_

Castiel was so embarrassed. He was glad his mother had not said that in English.

_“Dean does not feel that way about me, Mama. I like him but it is not the same. He can’t know.”_

Tanya’s expression turned sad as she kissed her son’s cheek.

_“You see the world so differently, angel. But this time I think you are wrong.”_

With one last brush of her fingers through his hair, Tanya turned her attention back to Naomi who was still on the phone.

“Yeah, I know it’s messed up. I’m sorry. I was forcing him into doing it and-” Suddenly Naomi stood up straighter, her blue eyes flashing with the same anger they had seen earlier. “Don’t say that about my brother!” Her jaw clenched, and her nostrils flared as she listened to whoever was on the other end of the line speak. “No, you don’t have the right to say that about him. I was the one that told him he had to do something that he didn’t want to do. My brother doesn’t like your sister, not the way she wants him to, and she can’t force it.”

Naomi glanced over and saw everyone in the room watching her, including her own boyfriend. 

“You know what? If that’s what you think of my brother, then I don’t have anything to say to you anymore. I can’t be friends with someone that is going to insult my family. I’m sorry your sister is upset, but I’m not going to make my brother take her.” She slammed the phone down and glared at it for a moment.

“Is Ruby mad at you because of me?” Castiel asked.

“No, she’s mad at you because of me, and I’m sorry about that.” Naomi walked over and pulled him into a hug. “Sometimes I forget that you’re sensitive. I should have listened better when you told me how you felt about Meg. I thought you were just shy. I didn’t realize her flirting was making you so uncomfortable.”

“I didn’t even realize she was flirting. I thought she was picking on me. It reminded me of Prairie Oak, and how the other kids would make fun of me there. I don’t like her touching me, and I don’t understand her joking and teasing.” He hugged his sister back and when they pulled apart he felt much better.

“Yeah, that was flirting. I thought you knew. I wondered why you kept excusing yourself, and why you always ran to Dean’s house when Ruby and Meg would stop by.” Naomi glanced at Dean for a moment before looking at her brother again.

 _“Is Mama right? You like Dean?”_ She asked in Russian. Castiel felt his face heating up again. 

_“If I did, would you stop loving me?”_

Naomi let out a choked sob and grabbed her brother again. “I could never stop loving you! Not ever!”

Dean moved over to the couch and sat down next to Bruce.

“Hey,” he greeted the older boy. Bruce smirked and nodded.

“You know what they’re saying?” 

Dean shrugged. “I caught bits and pieces. Cas’ mom told him she loves him no matter what, and I know I heard my own name in there a couple of times, but they talk too fast. I keep trying though.”

Bruce chuckled. “I have a hard enough time with English.”

Dean snorted. “I hear that.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So why were you guys talking about me?” Dean asked as they walked back to his house. Castiel ducked his head, refusing to meet his friend’s gaze.

“Mama asked me if you were more than just my friend. I told her you are my best friend and that you don’t like me that way.”

Dean stopped just before they reached his house. “You told her I don’t like you?”

Castiel looked up shyly for a moment before dropping his gaze to the dead leaves under his feet. He wasn’t saying anything else though. Dean knew his friend rather well, he thought. Castiel didn't lie. It was like he didn’t know how, and the few times he had tried, he had failed miserably. Sure, he could omit information, but even that usually failed on him. His attempt at first to leave out the fact that they were playing video games at Dean’s house had eventually fallen apart when his brother came home from school and mentioned some new game he had in his dorm room, and Castiel had said he liked that game too. From there it had crumbled and he had told his mother everything. He may not show his emotions easily to most people, but Dean could read him like an open book. He knew how big Castiel’s heart was, and how deeply he cared for people, even if he didn’t easily show it. For his friend to suddenly feel shy? It meant he _did_ have feelings for Dean. 

“Cas. Do you like me?”

“Of course, you’re my best friend,” Castiel quickly replied.

“No, I mean do you _like_ me? Like as more than just just a friend?”

Castiel squirmed, a sign that he was feeling anxious, and Dean didn’t like seeing him like that. He didn’t want to upset his friend any more so he decided to change the subject, let things fall back into place the way they had always been. 

“Come on, we’ll go play Sonic.” He tapped his friend’s elbow, urging him to follow, and he did.


	7. Bullies Don't Stand a Chance Against Dean Winchester

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean won't let anyone bully his best friend.

That was the closest Dean got for a long time to knowing whether Castiel liked him in the same way he liked his friend. Afraid of causing his friend more anxiety though, he didn’t bring the subject up again. Life went on as usual for them both, though things became more difficult for Castiel. The rest of his freshman year was miserable due to Naomi and Ruby’s falling out. Ruby was downright cruel to Castiel every time she saw him and it reached a point where he was afraid to be alone in the halls for fear she would find him. She tripped him, jabbed him with fingers and pens in crowded halls, and on more than one occasion, taped nasty notes to the outside of his locker. Though they weren’t signed, he knew the handwriting, and they were left for the entire school to see. He knew he’d hurt Meg by not taking her to the dance. That had not been his intention, but it was inevitable. She was not as cruel as her sister, but she did ignore him and pretend he didn’t exist. He was actually rather glad that was the worst thing she did.

When summer break finally arrived, it was a huge relief. Next year Ruby and the vast majority of her friends would be gone, and Dean would be in school with him. So would Benny and Garth as well as a few others. He knew Dean wouldn’t let anyone bully him. Dean had graduated middle school at the top of his class, and he already had some high school credits completed. Castiel was proud of his friend and they had high hopes that despite being in a larger school, they would have at least a couple of classes together. Castiel practically lived at the Winchester house in the summertime and spent most of his time in their pool with Dean and Sam. 

By the time school was ready to start back up again, they all had bronzed skin, and Dean’s freckles stood out prominently. Castiel found himself staring more and more at his friend, admiring his good looks and subconsciously trying to count the ever increasing number of freckles that spread across the boy’s nose and cheeks. Every day Dean grew more and more handsome, and Castiel was grateful that he was there to witness it.

A new routine had been established. They left for school earlier than the elementary and middle schools, so Dean, being the natural morning person he was, would show up at Castiel’s house bright and early, forcing his friend out of bed so they could start the school day. Once Castiel was dressed, teeth were brushed, and Tanya had fed them breakfast (Dean usually just ate breakfast at the Novak house since he knew how long it took to get Castiel out of bed in the first place), they would walk the two blocks to the bus stop for the high school. Castiel was confident that his sophomore year would be better just knowing his best friend was in school with him.

“Gimme.” Dean snatched Castiel’s schedule from him and jotted the classes down in his own notebook. He compared it to his own schedule.

“Do we have any classes together?” Castiel leaned over to see as well. Dean pointed two out.

“We have biology together and world history. Sorry, we don’t have gym together this semester.” 

“That’s ok. I have gym next semester. This semester I’m taking driver’s ed.” Castiel was excited about that.

“Cool! Will your dad get you a car?” Dean asked.

“No, he makes us save up for our own. I have about six hundred already saved, but that’s not enough to get a good car.” Castiel sighed.

“It’s ok. Maybe my dad can let us rebuild a junker together. We can go see what Bobby has at the junkyard once you have your permit. It’ll be so cool to build a car together.” Dean was getting excited thinking about it, and it made his friend smile.

“I don’t know as much as you, but if I could build it with you and John, I would like that. I think it would be better than buying a used car that may come with many issues,” Castiel said. Dean nodded.

“That’s what I think. I already have my car picked out. It won’t need as much work, but it’ll need a whole new paint job.”

“I have Algebra first period. That’s good, I’ll have the homework finished by lunch,” Dean murmured. 

“I have AP English. I like English class,” Castiel said as he took his schedule back. “My locker is down that hall.”

“Where is mine?” Dean looked around, but the numbers on these lockers were too high.

“Freshmen are down the next hall. Come on, I’ll show you.” Castiel led the way, his eyes darting around nervously but so far no one had said a word to him. When Dean touched his shoulder he jumped and looked sheepishly at his friend.

“Why are you so jumpy?” Dean asked.

“I’m worried the friends Ruby left behind will try to mess with me. And I have not seen Meg yet. They have a brother here too. He’s a senior this year,” Castiel replied.

“No one’s going to mess with you, Cas. I’ll kick their ass if they even think of trying.” Dean wasn’t going to let anyone mess with his friend.

“I’ll be fine. Come on, your locker is this way.”

Castiel led Dean to his locker and then down to the cafeteria. There was still twenty minutes before classes started, and students weren’t permitted to wander the halls, though on the first day the freshmen were permitted to plot out the path between their classes and to locate their lockers. As they walked into the cafeteria, Dean immediately sought out familiar faces. He spotted Benny as they made their way to the center of the room, and both Ash and Garth were with him. There were a couple of girls sitting at the table too, though Dean didn’t know who they were.

“Hey, brother! Good to see you! Did you find your locker?” Benny asked as Dean and Castiel sat down together across from him and Ash, and next to Garth.

“Yeah, Cas showed me where mine is. Let me see your schedule.” Dean held out a hand and Benny handed his over. He was glad to see that he had four classes with his friend. Benny would be at lunch with him and Castiel too. He handed the schedule back and asked Garth for his. They only had two classes together, but at least they had the same lunch period. After a quick review of Ash’s schedule, he saw they had one class together, and it was world history, the same one he shared with Cas. His eyes were drawn to the girls who had gone from two to three while he’d been going over schedules, and now they were chatting with Benny and Garth, giggling and looking at him and Castiel. He didn’t like it. 

“So, you guys all went to Jeff?” A girl with long, dark hair and huge brown eyes asked. 

“Yep. But Ash and Cas there are sophomores,” Benny replied. The girl smiled shyly at Dean, and he felt Castiel stiffen next to him.

“What school did you go to?” Garth asked her. She turned to look at him and he gave his friendliest smile. Garth was hard not to like.

“We went to Chalmers, over on eighth and Western.”

“Oh, I have a cousin there. Jenny Fitzgerald. She’s in fifth this year,” he said. All three girls shook their heads. None of them knew his cousin. The dark haired girl turned her attention back to Dean.

“So what’s your name?”

“I’m Dean. You already met Benny apparently, but I don’t know if he introduced you to the rest of the guys. This is Garth, and that’s Ash on the end over there. This guy here,” Dean bumped Castiel’s shoulder, “is my best friend Cas.”

“I’m Lisa, these are my friends Andrea and Abby. We’re freshmen too.”

“Hey look, the queer got himself a _boyfriend!_ ” Someone sneered from across the room. All heads turned to see who was shouting and found two girls and a boy two tables over. The boy was standing and pointing at Castiel. All eyes turned to the blue-eyed boy, who cringed when laughter rang out across the cafeteria. Dean was immediately furious.

“Dean, don’t, that’s Ruby and Meg’s brother!” Castiel pleaded, but Dean was already on his feet, glaring at the other boy.

“Funny you’re calling Cas the queer one when I know I saw you taking it up the butt over the summer, behind the Tasty Freeze downtown. What was it I heard you say? Oh right, you were begging _Kurt_ to go harder. And for the record, my mom saw it too,” Dean sneered before dropping down onto the bench again. The entire cafeteria was laughing hysterically, but they were all looking at Luke, Meg and Ruby’s brother.

“Is that true?” Castiel whispered so only Dean would hear him.

“Damn right it is. I was saving that little tidbit just in case he decided to be a dick too. I happen to know Kurt too, he works at the Gas n Sip. You know him, the kid with the shaggy blonde hair that looks like he never bathes? My mom took my brother, Charlie and me out for ice cream in July and I went to throw something in the garbage can, but it was overflowing, so my mom told me to go around back and toss it in the dumpster. Kurt was just pounding into Luke, like it was going out of style. I was sort of dumbfounded. At the time I didn’t know who he was, but I knew he had to go to school here, and chances were fair that he could possibly be one that might mess with you. I told you, Cas. I’m not just going to stand by and let anyone hurt you.” Dean wanted very badly to reach over and take his friend’s hand, but instead he settled for the wide, gummy grin he received. The bullying was coming to an end if Dean had anything to say about it. It might earn him an ass kicking or two but if it kept Castiel safe, it was worth it. Besides, if they thought he was Castiel’s boyfriend, that wasn’t really so bad. 

“Thank you, Dean,” Castiel said. Dean returned the boy’s smile.

“Anytime, Cas.”


	8. The Color Green Does Not Suit You, Castiel

High school turned out to be easy for Dean. Castiel kept him in check and made sure he kept up with his homework and in turn he got Castiel involved in clubs and sports. Together they tried out for track and field, and they joined the chess club. Castiel passed driver’s ed with flying colors, and their dads drove them both out to Bobby’s junkyard where the boys split off from their dads to wander around on their own. Dean’s car was a Dodge Charger, and he showed it to Castiel. They walked around for two hours before an old, beat up Lincoln caught Castiel’s attention. After bringing their dads and Bobby back to look at it, John was able to determine exactly how much work the car would need. Edward, Castiel’s dad haggled a bit on the price and got it lowered to two fifty. John agreed that he would work on it in his garage with the boys, and Castiel agreed to get a job to cover the cost of parts. Dean was excited that they would have a new car to work on. John had used the tow truck from his auto shop and got the car hooked up. The boys were both eager to get started working on the car. Castiel had saved his allowance and every penny he had gotten from his eighth-grade graduation and from babysitting kids in the neighborhood. Dean was just excited that eventually they would be able to drive to school and not have to rely on the school bus or one of their parents if they were running late.

Dean wasn’t able to completely stop the rude comments Castiel endured, but if he was with his friend, the other kids were dead silent. No one dared insult Castiel when Dean was with him. He had managed to avoid any fights, but on occasion he’d heard whispers in the halls from people calling him names. Mostly he ignored them. He was excelling in all of his classes, had one of the fastest times in track, and was actually holding his own on the chess team. And Castiel was doing great too. His nervousness was mostly gone, and he had a newfound confidence that Dean was glad to see. 

Charlie had eventually found them that first day and introduced them to more people, so slowly they made new friends. Lisa continued to flirt with Dean, much to Castiel’s chagrin. He tried not to be hostile towards the girl. Dean wasn’t his boyfriend and he didn’t have the right to tell the girl off, so he tried as hard as he could to be nice to her. Dean’s freshman year they decided to go as a group to Homecoming rather than take dates, but Lisa was there with her friends, and all Castiel could do was watch when she came over to ask Dean to dance with her. Dean had agreed, but he had then danced with Abby and Andrea, so Castiel didn’t know what to make of it all. Dean had even danced with Charlie, and from where Castiel stood, he could hear them talking and laughing.

“You ok, brother?” Benny came up on his right, and Castiel smiled politely.

“I’m good. Are you having a nice evening?” 

“I am. Scored myself a date with Andrea too. But the catch is that she wants me to get Dean to take Lisa out. Double date. I have to ask him though. I think he’s into Lisa. What do you think?” Benny turned to look at him, but Castiel felt numb. _Was_ Dean into Lisa? They flirted, or so he thought. Maybe Dean was just friendly, because he really just seemed to talk to everyone in that same tone, not just Lisa. Did Benny know something he didn’t? Before he could respond there was an arm draping around his shoulder, pulling him close. He looked over to see Dean. His stomach exploded with butterflies having Dean this close, and in _public!_

“How come you’re not dancing?” Dean asked. Castiel blushed and ducked his head.

“I can’t,” he said softly so only Dean could hear. Dean leaned closer, his lips almost touching Castiel’s ear as he spoke only loud enough for the other boy to hear.

“Can’t...or won’t?”

Castiel tried not to let himself shiver. He swallowed hard and hoped that no one could see how red his cheeks were. Dean’s fingers were brushing lightly across his shoulder, and it was making the butterflies in his stomach go even crazier.

“I-I can’t, I’m gay!” he whispered, turning his head almost completely into Dean’s neck as he spoke. Dean patted his shoulder before leaning in again to whisper back.

“You can still dance with girls. There’s no rule against dancing.”

Castiel looked miserably out across the gym where dozens upon dozens of couples were dancing together. All girls with boys. There were no girls dancing with girls or boys dancing with boys. 

“I’m ok,” he finally decided. If he couldn’t openly dance with the boy he wanted to dance with, then he wouldn’t dance at all. Dean frowned but nodded. He kept his arm around Castiel’s shoulder though, something Castiel was very grateful for. Benny was looking at them with one eyebrow arched.

“So, Dean, I need a favor from you brother.”

Castiel stiffened, and he knew Dean had felt it. He dropped his eyes to the tops of his dress shoes. They were new, his mother had bought them so he could go to dances in them, but also go to chess meets.

“It depends on the favor, man. You need a car worked on or something?” Dean asked.

“No, I asked out Andrea.” Benny was grinning and it had Dean smiling too.

“Good for you, man, but dude, I’m not into threesomes.” 

Benny laughed and shoved Dean lightly. Still his arm remained around Castiel’s shoulder.

“So what exactly are you asking of me?” Dean cocked an eyebrow and waited.

“Uh, well, she said yes, on one condition. That you go with, and take Lisa.”

Dean was quiet for a long time. He could still feel how tense Castiel was next to him. Lisa was pretty, and she was nice, and he full well knew she liked him. She’d been hinting at it for weeks now. He kind of liked her too. But not the way he liked Castiel, and he could practically feel how upset his friend was next to him.

“Does it specifically _have_ to be me? Or does she just want a date for Lisa?” 

Benny blinked and looked over at where the girls were all standing, talking and laughing. Occasionally they would look in their direction, and he could see how Lisa was looking at Dean. Technically all Andrea had said was to see if Dean would be game for a double date with Lisa. 

“I don’t really know. I think she was being pretty specific. I really like her, brother. She’s so pretty.”

Dean snorted. “Well, I’m sorry, I’m not into Lisa like that.” Castiel relaxed next to him. “See if they would be ok with Garth taking her instead, or maybe ask Victor.” 

Benny sighed, his shoulders slumping as he leaned back against the wall. The next time Andrea looked his way, he shook his head. She frowned and immediately turned to Lisa. He didn’t like the hurt look on the girl’s face but what was he going to do? Dean finally dropped his arm from around Castiel’s neck since he was starting to lose feeling in it, and he had probably been doing it for too long now and was raising more questions than he cared to deal with, and instead leaned back against the wall, mirroring Benny’s position. He nudged Castiel, who took the hint and leaned against the wall too.

“Uh oh, here they come,” Benny mumbled. Dean and Castiel looked up to see about six girls walking their way, and Andrea was in the lead. Lisa was right behind her.

“Hi,” Andrea said; her tone was clipped, irritated. Dean cocked an eyebrow.

“Hi.”

“So, why won’t you go out with Lisa?” She had her hands on her hips and was looking at him expectantly.

“I’m sorry, is this an inquisition? I don’t have to answer you or anyone else.” He looked past Andrea to Lisa, his expression softening when he saw the tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Lis. I’m not looking to date right now. It’s nothing personal against you.” He lifted a hand and nudged Castiel’s arm. “Come on, let’s see if Charlie is ready to go yet.” 

Dean walked away, not waiting for Castiel to follow, though he knew the other boy was. He made his way across the gym to where Charlie was talking with two girls he recognized from a couple of his classes, and Garth.

“Hey, you ready to go?” he asked. Charlie frowned.

“No, I’m not ready to go, and the dance doesn’t end for another hour. John’s not picking us up til it ends.”

“Well, I need to get out of here. I seem to have pissed some girls off, and I am not dealing with that for the next hour, so Cas and me, we’re gonna leave. Stay here, and dad will pick you up at ten as planned,” he said.

“Did you hurt Lisa’s feelings?” she asked.

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll see you at home, ok?”

She nodded. “Be careful, both of you.”

“Yeah, always am.” He smiled and winked before heading to the classroom across the hall that was doubling as a coat room for tonight. 

“Are you alright, Dean?” Castiel asked quietly as Dean looked for both of their coats.

“I’m fine, Cas.” 

“I don’t think you’re fine. I think you’re upset.”

Dean located Castiel’s coat and turned around to hand it to him. Their hands brushed and he tried not to gasp as their fingers touched, but it slipped out anyway.

“Why did you do that?” Castiel asked.

“I didn’t do anything. Just take your coat.” Dean dropped his hand and turned back to look for his own coat. He spotted the brown leather under some girl’s wool coat and yanked it out.

“Dean.”

“Cas, don’t,” Dean warned as he shrugged his coat on.

“Do you like Lisa?”

Dean’s sigh was more like a growl as he stomped out of the room and headed for the door. Castiel hurried to follow.

“You’re mad at me. Why are you mad at me? What did I do wrong?” Castiel pleaded as they started on the two-mile walk home. Dean slowed his pace as the school fell away behind them and waited for his friend to catch up to him.

“I’m not mad, Cas. It’s just...complicated.”

“I don’t understand.” Castiel’s brow furrowed as he looked at his friend.

“The day you let me tell you who I like is the day you’ll finally understand. Can I tell you?” Dean stopped walking and looked at him. Castiel fidgeted. Part of him was dying to know but part of him was terrified.

“Not yet,” he said softly. Dean nodded.

“Yeah, that’s what I figured. Come on, it’s cold and I think it might start raining.” 

Dean started walking again, and Castiel fell into step next to him.

“Are you mad at me?” 

“No, Cas, I’m not mad at you.”

Castiel fell silent again for a few minutes before he spoke again.

“Do you want to play Zelda when we get to your house?”

A grin slowly crept up on Dean’s face. “Yeah, you know I do.”

Castiel smiled back. “Ok, then.”


	9. Feelings

The rest of the semester passed by quickly, and then it was summer. Summer passed all too soon, and then Dean was a sophomore and Castiel was a junior. Here and there Dean did date, but it hurt him every time he saw the crestfallen look on his friend’s face. Castiel’s pain was his own, so eventually he just stopped altogether. The girls kept asking him out though, and at the beginning of his junior year, a guy even asked him out. That one he did say yes to, and even went on three dates with Lance, just to see if he really was into guys. The first time Lance kissed him, he just knew. The answer was a resounding _yes_ , he was definitely into guys, but he was not that into Lance. So when Lance asked him for a fourth date, he had politely declined. He dove into his schoolwork, spending his free time with Castiel, usually under the hood of one of their cars or kicked back in the basement playing video games.

Fall turned to winter, and then the holidays had come and gone. First semester was over and soon it was the beginning of the new year. Somehow Valentine’s Day had crept up on them, and Dean found himself fielding invites from at least a dozen girls to go to the Valentine’s Day dance. Half of them he wasn’t even sure of who they were, or why he was suddenly so popular. After the twelfth girl was turned down, Castiel got curious.

“Dean, you say no to everyone. Why?”

Dean just shrugged. “They’re not who I want to go with.”

Castiel had politely turned down two girls himself, so he understood what Dean meant and didn’t question him further. This was the second year that they were taking history together, since Dean had to take American history his sophomore year as part of the mandatory curriculum, and Castiel had waited til his senior year to take this European history class with Dean in hopes that they would have it together again. To both of their joy, they did. They met in the main hall and walked together to their history class. The only downside was that they had a teacher that liked to seat everyone alphabetically, therefore Dean was at the back of the classroom while Castiel was in the third seat in the fourth row. 

Halfway through class, two kids Dean recognized from his math and English classes came walking in holding a bucket of flowers. He groaned as he realized this was when they were going to start passing out the flowers that were being sent out by people to their friends, their crushes, and the ones they loved. Dean wouldn’t admit to anyone but he had bought a secret admirer one and jotted down a quick note on it. Really, it was the most chick flick thing he had ever written in his life, but he meant every single word of it. Then he directed it to be sent to Castiel. If his friend figured out it was from him, he would have to deal with another inquisition, but it would be worth it if Castiel admitted he felt the same way. He knew Castiel liked him, it was why he had turned down every single girl that had asked him to the dance, but his friend would want to know why he had sent a secret admirer flower. Guys didn’t send other guys flowers. They sent them to girls, or girls sent them. As they started handing out the flowers, Dean was frozen with fear. When Castiel’s name was called the boy’s head shot up so fast Dean couldn’t help but snort. His friend was so awkward when it came to stuff like this, but so adorable at the same time. 

“Me?” he asked, and the shock he felt was apparent in his voice. The girl smiled and nodded as she handed him a secret admirer flower. Even from where Dean sat he could see how wide his friend’s eyes had gotten. He turned the tag over and read the little card attached. Dean wanted to laugh at the dead serious expression on his friend’s face as he read the note from Dean. It wasn’t signed, and that was done on purpose. It was the only way Dean could think to tell his best friend that he was in love with him.

_Cas,_

_This was the only way I could think to tell you that I like you, that I’ve always liked you, and that you’re a great guy. I am bad at this, and don’t know what else to say except I think you have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen. Dude, you’re gorgeous. Yeah, ok, I’ve embarrassed myself enough. I hope I get to see you smile because you got this, and that you know someone is thinking of you on Valentine’s Day, even though I’m really thinking of you every day._

Dean held his breath as a small smile did flicker across his friend’s face. As he watched, Castiel pulled the ribbon that attached the card to the flower and removed the note entirely. He squinted as he read it a second time, his smile growing slightly wider before suddenly disappearing completely. Just as Dean was wondering why, he heard his name being called. He looked up at the girl and raised one hand.

“Here.”

She walked down the aisle to his desk and handed him six secret admirer flowers. He rolled his eyes as he accepted them but suddenly she was holding out a red one to him. His eyes widened as he accepted it. Then she was off to hand out the rest. He turned over the note on the red flower and read it.

_I know this is not signed, and that you might think it belongs on a secret admirer flower, but you would be wrong. I do not like you, Dean, I love you, therefore this is the flower that I chose to give to you. I am sorry that I did not sign it. I’m scared that you will reject me. Perhaps one day I will be able to tell you how I feel, and maybe you might feel the same way in return._

Dean puzzled over the note, reading it a second and a third time. He had a sneaking suspicion he knew who had sent it, and that brought a smile to his lips. He looked up, catching Castiel’s eye for only a moment before his friend blushed and turned around in his seat again. As class resumed and the teacher began droning on again, he took a quick look at the notes attached to the other flowers. So much for secrets, four of them were signed, and all four were girls asking him to the dance. Lisa was one of them.

_I know you weren’t ready freshman year, but I was hoping maybe you’d go to this dance with me? I like you, Dean. I can’t help it. Let me know one way or the other, ok?_

_~Lisa_

Dean pursed his lips and frowned as he set those four flowers aside and looked at the other two. One he just _knew_ was Benny screwing with him, and one had two simple words written on it:

_You’re cute_

Dean set those aside as well and went back to taking notes. Every now and again his eyes would drift over to Castiel, who had a soft smile on his face as he gently stroked the flower’s petals. He’d managed to make his friend happy, and for that the chick flick note was totally worth it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Someone gave you a secret admirer flower?” Charlie asked excitedly when she spotted Castiel in the hall. They had sociology together last period, and he had carried the flower with him since fifth when it was handed to him. He didn’t want to shove it in his locker.

“Yes. I want to be pleased that I received it, but I am worried that someone might be making fun of me,” he admitted as they sat down in their seats. This teacher was lax and had let the students sit anywhere they wanted, so they had sat together.

“Was there a note with it?” 

He nodded and fished the note from his back pocket. “It’s sweet. I’m concerned that it might not be genuine. I really, really want for it to be. I’m afraid though.”

“Can I take a look? I’m pretty good at determining someone’s motives, even if they’re written in a note like this.” She held a hand out, and he hesitated a moment before handing it over. He suspected it was Dean that had given it to him. He _hoped_ it was Dean, anyway. Charlie read through it quickly, a bright smile forming on her lips as she finished.

“I knew it!” she whispered.

“Knew what?” Castiel asked. She turned and handed the note back to him.

“You really don’t know who sent you that?” 

His cheeks flushed, and he ducked his head in embarrassment. “I think I know.”

“So who do you _think_ it is?” she asked. He looked at the note again. It practically screamed Dean, even to someone as socially clueless as he was.

“I’m afraid to say, in case it makes things awkward.” He looked up shyly. “That you won’t like me anymore if I say who I think it is.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “You think it’s Dean. I know that you think it’s Dean. And you’d be right. I know my brother’s handwriting, even when he tries to hide it. Plus, that’s how he talks.”

Castiel couldn’t help how excited that made him. He read the note again. Dean liked him. _Dean LIKED him!_

“Yeah, and if you think I don’t know you like him too, you’re sadly mistaken,” she added.

“Does it bother you that I am gay?” he asked. She snorted and rolled her eyes a second time.

“Dude, _I’m_ gay. I’m totally cool with you being gay. And I know Dean’s into guys. You in particular. Even before his mushy note, I knew he was in love with you. You guys stare at each other a lot, and you touch way too much for two guys that are just supposed to be friends.” 

“I-I gave him one too,” he admitted as his cheeks threatened to burn right off his face. She looked up in surprise, not having expected that from her shy friend.

“Yeah? Did you _sign_ it?”

His shoulders fell and he slumped back in his seat. “No. I thought last year about sending him one, but I overheard a girl saying she was sending one to Dean, so I didn’t do it. This year I decided to take a chance. You really think he likes me?” There was hope there in those blue eyes that Charlie didn’t want to chase away.

“I know he does.”

Castiel chewed on his lower lip as the teacher got started. He paid attention, took notes as always, and copied down the homework assignment. When the final bell rang he bagged everything up but when he looked down at the flower, his heart leapt into his throat. He was about to go and see Dean, and what was he supposed to do? Charlie was already on her feet and waiting for him to pick his stuff up. They always walked out of class together, and once they were in the hall he had to fight to stay calm. 

They parted to head to their respective lockers, and after grabbing the books he would need for his homework and shoving them into his bag quite unceremoniously, he closed his locker and turned around. Dean was right there.

“Dean!” he gasped. The other boy grinned.

“Hey, Cas.”

For a moment they stood in silence. The flower he had given Dean was no longer in his hand, but he could see it poking out of the top of the other boy’s backpack. It warmed him to see it and gave him a courage he hadn’t thought himself capable of. His gaze returned to Dean’s face and he smiled.

“Are you ready to go?”

“I am. I don’t have a whole lot of homework; I did most of it throughout the day, what about you?” Dean asked as they started for the door that opened onto the parking lot.

“I have an English paper due next Friday, and Sociology. That is it,” Castiel replied. When they reached the parking lot they walked out to Dean’s Charger, where Charlie was already waiting. 

“Mom called, she and dad are going out on a date tonight, so she’s gonna give us money for pizza,” she said as they reached her. It had been John’s idea to invest in a cell phone for their two older teenagers to share, but most of the time Charlie carried it.

“Sweet!” Dean high fived his sister. “Come on, we gotta go pick Sammy up.”

Now that both Cas and Dean could drive, they alternated whose car they would take, but they always rode together unless one of them wasn’t going to be in school that day. Their new routine was driving from the high school to the middle school to pick Sam up, and then heading back to Dean’s house where they would do their homework and hang out. Now that Cas’ mom had a full-time job they didn’t spend nearly as much time over there, but Anna often came to hang out with Sam. They had become best friends over the years too. This particular day they drove to the middle school, Cas sitting in the passenger seat, Charlie chatting away in the backseat, and they discussed their plans for the weekend.

“So, Dean, I asked Dorothy to the dance, and she said yes!” Charlie squealed excitedly. He glanced back at her in the rearview mirror.

“Good, just watch out, this school doesn’t like same sex couples. Not that there aren’t any, but they have to be more discreet. You won’t really be able to dance with her, but you can still have fun. Do you need me to drive you or do you just want to borrow my car?” 

“Dorothy is driving, so we’re good. Are you going to the dance?” she asked.

“Ha ha, no. I’m not stepping anywhere near the gym Saturday. I’ll be at home, eating pizza and watching Star Wars,” Dean laughed. He glanced over at Castiel, who was being awfully quiet. “You ok, Cas?”

Castiel lifted his head and smiled softly. “Oh, yes, I’m fine. I was just thinking.”

“’Bout what?” Dean asked.

Castiel shook his head. “I’m just...thinking.”

“Are you planning to go to the dance?” Charlie asked him.

“No. If Dean’s not going, I’m not. Last Valentine’s Day Dean stayed home but Rachel and Andrea talked me into going with them, and Meg verbally attacked me. It was humiliating. I’m not risking that again. I was invited, but I declined the invitations.”

“Yeah, I had a few guys ask me, but I turned them down.” She looked over at Dean. “I know you got invited, girls just drool over you.” 

Dean snorted and watched Cas out of the corner of his eye. His friend was staring out the window again.

“I got invited. I turned each one down. They weren’t who I wanted to go with.” 

Charlie’s eyes shot over to Castiel, and she snickered softly. They were just pulling up in front of the middle school, and Sam was already at the curb waiting. He jumped into the back and let out a relieved groan as he shoved his backpack to the floor.

“Long day?” Dean asked, grinning as he pulled away from the curb.

“It’s Valentine’s Day. I had, like, six girls ask me out. They’re doing a dance, and I got invited to it all day long,” Sam complained. Dean and Castiel both chuckled.

“Did you accept any of them?” Castiel asked. He turned in his seat to see the other boy’s cheeks had reddened.

“Yeah, I did.”

“What’s her name?” Charlie was getting in on the inquiry now, too.

“Her name is Alexis. She’s the prettiest girl in all the eighth grade.”

“So does this mean I have to shuffle you guys to and from the dance?” Dean glanced back at his brother as they made their way back to the Winchester house.

“No, her mom is driving us,” Sam replied. 

They pulled up at the house and everyone got out, dragging their heavy book bags with them. While Charlie and Sam wandered up to their rooms, Dean stopped in the kitchen to put his single red carnation in a cup of water. His mother walked in, smiling when she saw Dean with his flower.

“Where did you get that?” she asked. Dean’s cheeks reddened against his wishes as he reminded her of the flower exchange that had happened last year.

“Oh, that’s right. Is Lisa still trying?” She nodded towards the flower he was holding.

“This is not from Lisa. But yes, she asked me out again. I found her after class and turned her down. Again.”

Castiel felt a small sense of satisfaction hearing that. Mary noticed the flower he was holding, and her eyes lit up.

“You got one too?”

Castiel blushed hard as he smiled. “I did. And I believe they were being honest and not making fun of me when they gave it to me.” 

Mary smiled, glancing at her son, who was blushing just as hard as Castiel.

“Well, good. And I’m sure they really do mean what they said. I’m going to be upstairs getting ready. John is taking me out on a romantic dinner date, and then we’re going dancing. I haven’t been dancing in forever! I’m excited.” She clapped her hands together excitedly before turning to Dean. “This is for pizza, and if you want to rent a movie. Try to behave, ok?” She handed her son a fifty dollar bill, and he tucked it in his front pocket.

“Yeah, I’ll keep the hellions under control,” he promised. 

“Ok, I need a shower!” With that his mom dashed out of the room and up the stairs. Dean chuckled as he got another glass down and filled it with water. He plucked Castiel’s flower out of his hand before he could protest and stuck it in the water.

“I know you don’t want it wilting,” he said as he handed the glass back. Castiel smiled brightly.

“Thank you, Dean.”

“Come on, we’ll go do our homework.” Dean started for the basement door and Castiel followed.


	10. The Question Finally Gets Asked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean, who's your crush on?

When John got home, he gave instructions and reminded them all of the rules, but really, it wasn’t like any of them were planning on throwing a wild party. They were about the most dull people on Earth. Once they heard their parents leave, Dean called in the pizza order. Charlie and Sam had gone back up to their rooms, and Dean headed back down to the basement where Castiel was playing a single player game of Sonic.

“Are your parents gone now?” he asked as Dean laid down on his bed.

“Yeah, finally. I ordered a couple of pizzas,” Dean replied. Castiel paused the game and turned around. He was sitting on the floor at the foot of Dean’s bed, but he got up on his knees and leaned his elbows on the mattress. 

“Dean?”

Dean sat up on his elbows and looked at him. “Yeah?”

Castiel licked his lips, noticing how Dean’s eyes tracked the movement. “Can I ask you something?”

Dean smirked. “You just did.”

Castiel rolled his eyes. “You’re such a smart ass.”

“Yeah, but would you have me any other way?” Dean joked.

“No, I wouldn’t.” Castiel really wouldn’t want Dean to ever change.

“So what’s your question?”

“Who is your crush on?” 

Dean was pretty sure the floor had just fallen out from under him as he heard the words leaving his friend’s mouth. He sat all the way up, his green eyes locked on Castiel’s blue ones. There was nervousness there, but not fear. Slowly Dean smiled.

“Yeah? You really want to know?”

Castiel nodded. “I do.” His eyes darted to the dresser, where both of their flowers sat in their respective glasses of water, before meeting Dean’s gaze again. “Tell me.”

Dean got up from the bed and came around to kneel on the floor in front of the other boy. “It’s you, Cas. It’s always been you.”

Castiel let out a shaky breath, not realizing he’d even been holding it in.

“Oh. I am very glad to hear that.”

Dean smiled. “Yeah? Really?”

Castiel nodded and smiled nervously. “Did you write that?”

Dean’s smile grew wider. “I did. You wouldn’t let me tell you how I felt all these years, so I decided this was my last chance. You’re gone in June. I thought about sending you a secret Santa back at Christmas, but I wanted something slightly more romantic than a piece of paper shaped like a jolly fat man to pour my feelings out on.”

Castiel’s smile turned to one of the full, bright, gummy ones Dean loved to see. “Yes, this was definitely more romantic.”

“So I can assume you sent me the red one then?” Dean asked. Castiel blushed, lowering his head and peering up at Dean through his lashes. It made Dean’s heart beat faster.

“I did.”

Dean felt a small victory hearing that. He did what he had been dying to do for years now and reached out to take his friend’s hand, knowing for certain he wouldn’t be pushed away. Castiel threaded his fingers through Dean’s and rested their hands together on his lap. This was the happiest Dean had been since he and Castiel had first met all those years ago.

“Would I be out of bounds in asking you to kiss me?” Castiel asked after a few minutes of them just sitting and staring at one another with huge, goofy smiles on their faces. Dean’s heart began racing. If there was one thing he was absolutely dying to do, it was to kiss Castiel.

“I would love to kiss you. Come here.” Dean brought his free hand up to the back of Castiel’s head and pulled him closer. There was no resistance, but he felt the soft gasp as he pressed his lips against Castiel’s. It was a dream come true, every daydream Dean had experienced over the years flashing through his mind right in that moment. Castiel pressed closer, his lips parting as he pulled his hand free from Dean’s and wrapped both arms around the other boy’s neck. Dean pulled back a bit, but only so he could change the angle, and then he was leaning back in, bringing their mouths together once again. This time when Castiel’s lips parted, Dean took the hint. It wasn’t something he had expected, but it excited him as he slid his tongue across Castiel’s lower lip and the other boy groaned, parting his lips farther. Taking a chance, he slid his tongue into Castiel’s mouth, meeting the other boy's and earning another slightly louder groan. Dean pulled back, smiling when he saw Castiel’s eyes were still closed. Slowly they opened. He almost laughed when he saw the irritation in them.

“Why did you stop?”

“I just wanted to make sure you were ok,” Dean replied. Castiel’s expression softened.

“I waited too long for this. I don’t want to stop.”

Dean pressed a tender kiss to the corner of Castiel’s mouth. “You’re amazing.”

Castiel smiled. “I’m sorry I was so scared for you to say who you liked. I hoped it was me but I was so scared you would name some girl, and I thought my heart might break if you did that. So I thought it would be safer if I just didn’t know, but Dean, I love you. I’ve loved you for a long time now. I...never wanted anyone but you.”

Dean kissed the tip of his nose and smiled warmly at him. “I know, babe. I knew you liked me and I tried to let you know that I liked you too, but you really didn’t make it easy for me. I love you, too; I always have.”

“I want to go back to kissing, can we do that? I very much enjoy it,” Castiel asked.

“Is this your first time?” Dean was curious. Castiel sucked his lower lip into his mouth briefly before letting it go and replying.

“No. I went on some dates last year, but they weren’t you, so I told them I didn’t want to see them anymore.”

Dean was admittedly a little jealous knowing Castiel had gone out with other boys, but to be fair, they had both been free to see who they wanted, and Dean had gone on dates of his own, even though he had wanted to be with Castiel. Now he could have what he wanted, what he had always wanted. He placed his hands on Castiel’s hips and pulled him closer.

“Did you do anything besides kiss?” He wouldn’t begrudge his friend exploring and learning more about himself, but the idea of someone else with their hands on Castiel’s body sparked something hot and ugly in his chest.

“No, not really. One boy tried to... _touch_ me, through my pants, but I asked him to stop and he did. I wanted it, but not with him,” Castiel admitted. And why was that just so freaking hot thinking about Castiel with needs like that? 

“What do you want from me, Cas? Tell me exactly what you want.” Dean knew how literal his friend could be, and that when he wanted something, he would say exactly what it was that he wanted.

“I want to kiss you, Dean. Not just chaste kisses, though. I’ve...dreamt about this moment. About holding you, and kissing you, and I want that, very much. But I want more than that. I want to go on dates and hold hands and do things other couples do. And I want other, more intimate stuff too, but only if you do as well. I’m happy just being with you.” Castiel smiled when Dean leaned in again and kissed his cheek. 

“I’m glad we’re in agreement then. But we’re sort of not in the right state for openly kissing and holding hands in public, and if we did it in school we might get in trouble, and I don’t want to risk our scholarships. You know, I chose Berkeley for a reason. I’m glad you and I will be going there together. I want to do all of that stuff, but I don’t want you getting beaten up because you kissed me in public, or I put my arm around you. I’ll gladly take you on dates, and I’ll hold your hand and kiss you, but in public, we need to be a bit discreet. The things people whisper in school? It’ll be a whole lot worse for us both if we aren’t careful. I love you, Castiel. I would kill anyone that tried to hurt you.”

“And touching? Do you want to do that too? What about sex?” Castiel asked. Dean chuckled. No holding back with this guy! But he knew how Castiel worked, and that the best way for the other boy to work through things was to learn early on what his boundaries were. He was not wanting to push Dean into anything he wasn’t ready for.

“I am totally on board for all of that. We can touch and explore, and I’m definitely up for sex, but maybe we should work up to that. We’ll need to talk some more about that.” 

Castiel nodded. “I watched some porn and joined a support group for gay and lesbian teens. There are some bisexual people in there too. I have talked in depth with a few people about sex because I wanted to know how difficult it would be between two men.”

Dean was impressed. Castiel was serious about this, and about them. He was a bit surprised though to learn that his best friend had joined a group, and he’d had no idea at all. 

“When have you been going to this group?” 

“Right after work at the library. They hold the meeting twice a month. I’ve been going for about a year now. I would have told you, but I needed some other people to talk to about my feelings for you and what it would be like to be intimate. You’re not mad at me, are you?” Castiel asked worriedly.

“No, baby, I’m not mad at all. I’m just a little surprised.” Dean chuckled softly. “So there’s a whole group of people out there that knew how you felt about me, but not me?”

Castiel blushed and dropped back on his heels. His legs were starting to hurt, but especially his knees. “I was so scared you wouldn’t feel the same way.”

“Well, now you know that I do. Come here, my knees are killing me.” Dean groaned as he stood up. His knees ached terribly from kneeling. The floors were concrete under the tiles they had laid down and they’d been kissing and pouring their hearts out to one another for the better part of twenty minutes now. He pulled Castiel to his feet and led him over to his bed. After kicking his shoes off he guided the other boy onto the bed and they stretched out next to each other.

“Will you please kiss me again?” Castiel asked. Dean smiled and nodded. He rested one hand on the other boy’s hip and brought their mouths together again. Castiel was on his back, Dean leaning over him as their kiss deepened. Fingers slid under the edge of Dean’s tee shirt, making him gasp. Castiel took advantage of that and slid his tongue into Dean’s mouth. This was the hottest kiss of Dean’s life, and it hadn’t taken him long to get hard. He was trying to resist rubbing against Castiel and possibly scaring him, so he settled for slipping his own hand under Castiel’s shirt and reveling in the smooth skin there. 

“Dean…” Castiel pleaded when Dean pulled away, but a second later tender kisses were being pressed to his jaw and throat. He sighed in contentment. Someone pounding on the door startled them both, and Dean jumped back.

“Dean! Pizza’s here!” Charlie yelled down the stairs.

“I’ll be right back.” Dean leaned in and pecked Castiel on the lips before running up the stairs. 

“Where’s Cas? Doesn’t he want any?” Sam asked.

Dean headed to the door, groaning inwardly when he realized it was Alistair delivering their pizzas.

“Dean, Dean, Dean. Your _boyfriend_ didn’t want to come up for pizza? What, is he naked?” Alistair sneered.

“Dude, you must not want a tip. What’s my total?” Dean snapped.

“Twenty seven fifty.” Alistair’s smirk was enough to make Dean want to punch him. He fished his wallet out instead of the money his mom had given him and counted out the exact amount. He plopped the money in Alistair’s hand.

“What, no tip?” Alistair frowned as he counted out the bills.

“Sure. Keep your homophobic comments to yourself if you actually want your customers to give you a tip.” Dean slammed the door shut and turned around to see his brother and sister both standing there looking a little shocked.

“That was Alistair,” Sam said.

“I know exactly who it was.” Dean took the pizzas from Sam’s hands and carried them into the kitchen, where he put two boxes on the counter. 

“He’s going to screw with you at school Monday,” Charlie worried.

“Nah, he complains, I’ll go talk to his dad, Reverend Lewis, about how his son’s favorite hobby is arson. I have two videos of it, too.” Dean wasn’t worried about Alistair. Sure, the boy had a wicked mean streak, but it was primarily directed at underclassmen, not at his fellow grade. That might change, but that was why Dean had made the effort to collect dirt on nearly every bully in school. If they even thought of messing with him or with Castiel, or heaven forbid Sam or Charlie, Dean knew how to bring them down. Hard.

“Where did you get videos of Alistair burning stuff down?” Sam asked.

“Cas and me, we were videotaping each other skateboarding last year, and we heard someone laughing. We had mom’s video camera with us and we followed the sound and saw Alistair, Crowley, and that girl Lisa used to hang around with, Abby, throwing molotov cocktails into the abandoned house on the corner of Wicker and Lilac. I saw an opportunity, and I took it. Got good footage too. And then we called the cops. Later, I caught Alistair again, burning things in the cemetery. Cas was with me, saw it all. I had mom’s camera cause we were doing a documentary type assignment for history. We hid behind a tree and filmed him. You can see and hear him clearly on the tapes. And I was smart; I made copies, just in case.” Dean grabbed two cans of soda out of the fridge and backtracked to make sure the front door was locked before heading for the basement. 

“Don’t be punks. We can rent a movie later if you guys want,” he said.

“Nah, I have two new books I plan to read this weekend.” Sam smiled happily as he started digging into one of the pizza boxes.

“Nerd.” Dean teased. Sam just grinned back.

“I’m busy rebuilding the computer Dad gave me. Maybe we can watch one tomorrow. Cas spending the weekend?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah, yeah he is.” And Dean was very happy about that.


	11. Pizza, Sex, and Leverage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ***SMUT***

He left his brother and sister in the kitchen and went back down to the basement. Castiel was sitting up on the bed, and he eyed the box in Dean’s arms hungrily as he set it down on top of the little table in the corner. He got up and followed Dean, sitting down across from him. Dean handed him a can of soda and opened the box.

“So guess who delivered this.” 

“Who?” Castiel asked.

“Alistair. Tried to start shit, so I didn’t tip him. I slammed the door in his face,” Dean replied.

“Be careful, he’s trouble.” Castiel didn’t like Alistair. When Dean wasn’t around, Alistair would corner him and make threats or insult him. To make matters worse, Meg was dating him. He was sure she was the reason as to why Alistair had made him a target . So far though, Alistair hadn’t touched him. He wasn’t sure that would continue if Dean had just ticked him off.

“I’m not worried. Let him start crap. I still have the videos.” 

They ate their pizza and talked about what they wanted to do that weekend and when they were finished, they went back to lie down in Dean’s bed. Dean popped Adventures in Babysitting in the VHS machine and pulled Castiel close. 

“I like this, Dean. I always wanted to know what it would feel like,” Castiel said softly as the movie began to play. Dean just smiled and pulled the other boy closer.

After they’d had time to digest and Dean was sure his siblings wouldn’t come and interrupt them, he kissed Castiel. The other boy responded eagerly, hands quickly grabbing Dean’s hips and pulling him closer. Kissing Castiel was amazing. The boy didn’t hold back. He put everything he had into every kiss, and Dean felt his entire body tingling, from the top of his head clear down to his toes. It didn’t take much to get him hard again, but this time he didn’t want to hide it. When Castiel’s hand brushed against the bulge in Dean’s jeans a few minutes later, Dean expected sudden shyness, or for Castiel to pull away in embarrassment, but instead he moaned and kissed Dean harder while palming him through his jeans.

“F-fuck! Feels good!” Dean gasped.

“Has anyone ever done this before?” Castiel asked, his already deep voice dropping several more octaves with the question.

“Never had anyone actually _touch_ me.” Dean pushed up into Cas’ hand and felt a sudden thrill when Castiel’s fingers quickly undid his fly and slid inside his pants. There was still a layer of fabric between them, and that was one layer too many.

“Cas…” he whined as Castiel stroked him.

“Do you have a bottle of lube?” 

“Yeah, in the box on the floor in my closet, so my brother and sister don’t find it. Sam already stole one bottle from me.” Dean pointed at the closet and let out another whine when Castiel got up and went to the closet. He found the box in question and grabbed the bottle. By the time he got back to the bed, Dean had shed his pants and was lying on his back in just his boxers and tee shirt. It made his own cock twitch to see the way Dean’s boxers were tented. _He_ had done that to Dean. _He_ had turned on the boy he had been in love with since he was twelve years old. Smiling, he crawled across the bed and looked down at Dean’s boxers. 

“Can I take them off?”

Dean licked his lips and slowly nodded. He and Castiel had see a lot of one another’s bodies considering they’d had gym classes and they had swam in the pool every summer for years now, and while maybe they had caught glimpses of one another’s junk while rushing to change into swim trunks, they’d never seen one another naked like this, with hard cocks straining against fabric, begging to be released. Castiel set down the bottle of lube and carefully lowered Dean’s underwear. He tossed them onto his own bed a few feet away and turned his attention back to Dean. Wanting to see Dean completely naked, he pulled the tee shirt over Dean’s head, and it joined the boxers on the other bed. Grabbing up the bottle of lube, he poured some on his hand and as he stretched out next to Dean, took him in hand.

“Cas…” Dean’s eyes slid shut as he suddenly became overwhelmed with emotion. This was what he had always dreamed of, and it was _amazing_! Castiel’s mouth was on his neck, kissing and nibbling at the tender skin, making Dean buck up into his hand and gasp as his body erupted in goosebumps. When he swirled his tongue around one nipple, Dean cried out. Castiel’s hand was picking up speed, stroking and squeezing in all the right ways, and pushing him very close to orgasm. Suddenly the pressure in his belly exploded, and he came harder than he ever had before. Castiel’s hand moved slower as he worked Dean through his orgasm. Dean grabbed him and pulled him down into a searing kiss. He licked his way into Castiel’s mouth pulling the most beautiful sounds out of the other boy even as his hands worked to unbutton Castiel’s jeans. 

“Lift.” Dean grunted as he shoved them down and Castiel obliged, lifting his hips so Dean could get them off him. 

“Oh…” Castiel whimpered as Dean slid a hand inside his boxers to do a little exploring of his own. 

“You feel so good. Tell me what you want me to do, baby. You want a hand job? You want me to give you a blow job? It’ll be my first, but I think I can figure it out. I want to make you feel good, Cas. You deserve it.” Dean kissed his way down Castiel’s neck, nibbling and sucking at the tender skin. He wondered what he and Castiel were now. Knowing his friend, this would not be enough. He would want Dean as his boyfriend. Dean wanted that. He really, really wanted that.

He stripped Cas out of his tee shirt and then pulled his boxers off too. Castiel was looking at him with so much want and desire burning in his eyes it took Dean’s breath away. The normal shyness that was an ingrained part of Castiel when it came to most people had long ago melted away when he was with Dean, and even now, his body exposed and Dean’s eyes roving over his prone form, he was not embarrassed. He’d never wanted anyone else to see him like this.

“You’re so beautiful, Cas. You’re seriously the most gorgeous guy I have ever laid eyes on.” This time he kissed Castiel gently, smiling to himself when fingers slid through his hair, tugging lightly as he was pulled into a deeper kiss. To Dean’s surprise, Castiel let his legs fall apart, putting himself completely on display. He fumbled on the bed until he’d found the bottle of lube and poured some over his fingers, all without their mouths separating. With slick fingers he rubbed gently at Castiel’s balls before sliding them lower, rubbing the sensitive area under them. Castiel cried out when Dean circled his rim with one finger. For now Dean was testing the water since he hadn’t gotten a direct answer as to what Castiel wanted. He tore his lips away in order to speak.

“You need to tell me what you want, Cas. Are you-do you...want to have sex? Are you sure you don't want to wait?” Mostly Dean had wanted to wait because he thought he'd be the one bottoming, but if Cas wanted this, he was game too.

“Yes, I'm sure. Do you know how to do it? You have to be careful, so you don’t hurt me.” Castiel was panting now since upon hearing the word “yes,” Dean had sunk one finger inside him, into that tight heat.

“I know, baby. You’re not the only person that did their homework.” Dean smirked. It hadn’t been easy getting his hands on materials regarding sex between two men. Mostly he’d stayed friends with Brian, and they had several in-depth conversations about everything that came with same-sex relationships. Brian was very open and understanding, and thanks to him, Dean got to see Playgirl magazines firsthand. His friend had even let him keep a couple, and for that he was very grateful. He just hoped his mom never found them!

He was using the information learned from talking to his friend now as he carefully worked Castiel open. In all of his fantasies about this moment, he had thought it would be him bottoming, but he was totally down with the fact that Castiel was willing to. However, he wanted to do this right. He was easily moving one finger in and out, so he added a second. Slowly he began the process of working Castiel open. 

“I can take it; I do this on myself all the time, put another one in!” Castiel growled. Dean stilled his fingers completely and got right in Castiel’s face.

“I don’t doubt that you can, but this is my first time doing this, and I refuse to go faster and hurt you. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I did. I love you, Cas, and that means you’re special to me and I have to be careful.”

Castiel swallowed hard and nodded. “I’m sorry; I understand.”

Dean could feel his embarrassment, so he kissed him with everything he had. It seemed to work because soon there were arms wrapped around his neck, and Castiel was whining and moaning into his mouth as he added a third finger. When Dean brushed across his prostate he cried out, clenching tight around the fingers still inside him.

“D-don’t or I’ll come too soon!” 

Dean was careful to avoid his prostate after that. He kissed up and down Castiel’s neck before deciding he had done as much to open him up as he could.

“Cas, can I uh, ask you something?” Dean grabbed the bottle of lube and popped the top on it.

“Of course, Dean. We’ve always been able to talk about anything.” Castiel sat up and guided Dean down until he was the one lying on his back.

“What are we? Is this, like, are we…” Dean was suddenly the one feeling shy. Castiel swung one leg over Dean’s waist, hovering above the waiting cock beneath him. He leaned down to kiss Dean.

“I would like for us to be a couple. I want you to be my boyfriend, Dean. It’s what I’ve wanted almost since the first moment I met you.” Castiel brought their mouths together again as he slowly lowered himself down, taking Dean’s cock inch by inch. “I...love...you...Dean.” He groaned deeply when he bottomed out. 

“Yeah, I want that too.” Dean fought to get the words out. He grabbed his _boyfriend’s_ hips and held him in place for a minute. The sensation was so intense he thought he might come just from the heat and pressure surrounding him. He’d never felt anything like it before. Slowly he released his grip until he was loosely holding Castiel’s hips, and he watched in amazement as Castiel used his strong runner’s legs to lift himself up and slide back down Dean’s length. As Castiel began to pick up speed, Dean started meeting him in the middle, thrust for thrust. The moment he hit Castiel’s prostate, he knew. His entire body tensed and he cried out, and with a slight shift of his hips his prostate was getting hit on every thrust. Castiel was hard, his cock slapping obscenely against his stomach with every move so Dean grabbed it and started stroking it in time with his thrusts.

“C-close…” Castiel’s eyes had squeezed shut and his head was lolling back as he rode Dean hard. Dean had been close since the moment Castiel had bottomed out, and when his hips began to stutter he began stroking Castiel harder.

“Come for me, sweetheart,” he begged and Castiel did exactly that, coming with a shout. Dean managed a few more thrusts before he was following suit, spilling deep inside his boyfriend. They were both left panting hard. Dean carefully laid Castiel out on the bed and went over to the laundry sink to grab some paper towels and wet them so he could clean them both up. He headed back to the bed to find Castiel had fallen asleep, so he cleaned himself up first. As he started cleaning Castiel up, the boy’s eyes fluttered and opened.

“Thank you,” he murmured. His eyelids felt as though they were weighed down with cement. Dean gently eased his legs apart and cleaned the come that was leaking out of him so they weren’t going to have to sleep on wet sheets, and Castiel opened his eyes again.

“Is it bedtime?” he asked with a yawn. Dean smiled and crawled back into the bed, wrapping himself around Castiel.

“No, we have a few hours, but I know you’re tired, so go to sleep.” 

“I can sleep here? In your bed?”

Dean peppered his boyfriend’s shoulders with tender kisses. “If I had my way you’d be in my bed every night for the rest of my life.”

Castiel smiled and snuggled closer. “I would like that very much.”


	12. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 22 years later...

**Twenty Two Years Later**

 

“Oh my God...is that Dean Winchester?” 

Heads turned to watch with a mixture of shock and surprise as Dean strode into the room. He absently adjusted his tie as he approached the check-in table.

“Hi, Dean. I’m not sure if you remember me, my name’s Andrea,” the woman sitting at the table greeted him. He smiled wide.

“Of course I remember you! How are you?” 

She stood up, awkwardly leaned over the table and gave him a quick hug.

“I’m good! I, uh, married Benny,” she said with a small laugh. He laughed with her.

“Why does that not surprise me one bit? Where is he? Did he come?” 

“He’s around here somewhere. So how have you been?” She smoothed her hands down the back of her dress before sitting again.

“I’ve been good. Been real busy. Went to college, got my masters. I teach at Harvard, if you can believe it.” He was still proud of that little fact.

“That’s wonderful! I went into sales and I’m the VP of a marketing firm now. Benny is assistant manager of the Kansas Eagles. We have three kids. Our oldest is starting middle school this year, she’s excited. We have two boys and a girl, ten, seven, and four,” she said proudly. Dean smiled wider.

“Sounds like you have a great family. I-”

“Dean?”

He turned at the sound of his name to see a woman with long, dark hair and big brown eyes walking up. It took his brain a moment to catch up and realize he was looking at Lisa.

“Hey, Lis, how are you?” he asked as they hugged.

“I’m great! It’s so good to see you.” She smiled warmly. She had been pretty back in highschool but now she was stunning. She looked around. “Are you...here alone?” 

He chuckled. Some things never changed. “Actually, no, I am not here alone. My husband is parking the car.”

Her eyes widened, and he even heard Andrea gasp behind him.

“You’re...gay? Is that why you wouldn’t go out with me in high school?” Lisa asked. He could see the hurt in her eyes, but hey, he didn’t do it on purpose.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that. We’ll leave it at the fact that my husband is gay, and I’m head over heels in love with him.” 

There was confusion in her eyes, but he didn’t owe her or anyone else an explanation regarding his orientation. 

“Dean, it’s starting to rain.” 

Dean turned around to see Castiel walking through the door. There were spots of water on his dove gray jacket and glistening in his hair, but it didn’t look like the rain was too bad yet.

“You didn’t get too wet, did you?” Dean asked as he moved to straighten his husband’s tie, not for the first time that night.

“No, it’s a light rain at the moment but by the time we leave I think it might really start coming down. I brought your umbrella in, just in case. I was three quarters of the way across the parking lot by the time the first drops fell,” Castiel replied.

“You married Cas?” Lisa didn’t even try to hide her shock. Dean chuckled.

“Yes I did. I mean, look at him, he’s gorgeous!” He winked at his husband, who snorted and rolled his eyes as he tried not to smile. Castiel had been handsome as a boy but now? He was breathtakingly handsome.

“Were you guys a couple back in high school?” Andrea asked from behind them.

“Yes, we were, but not until Dean’s junior year,” Castiel replied.

“Wow. So, um, how long have you been married?” Lisa asked.

“Well, I proposed on my graduation day. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him, but since marriage wasn’t legal yet for same sex we concentrated on our degrees. In 2004 it was legalized on the east coast, so we moved from where we lived in California, and we got married. We did a vow renewal two years ago. We’ve been legally married for twelve years, almost thirteen now, but we’ve been together for twenty two,” Dean explained.

“Dean?” 

He recognized that voice and looked up to see Benny hurrying over.

“Brother! How the hell have you been? I haven’t seen you in ages!” Benny wrapped Dean up in a bear hug, and Dean laughed happily as he hugged him back.

“You moved and changed your number. It wasn’t me that lost touch.” Dean pointed a finger at him. Benny sighed and nodded.

“I know, I moved around a lot after high school. But then I ran back into Andrea, and we started dating. I’m sure she caught you up on the rest.” He glanced at Castiel before doing a double take. “Cas? What are you doing here? You graduated the year before us!” He hugged Castiel as well.

“I’m here with Dean.” 

“You two are still inseparable, eh?” Benny teased. Castiel smiled and held up his left hand where two silver bands sat.

“It’s a bit more than that.”

Benny’s eyes widened as he gaped at them both. “Oh, now I feel like a fool for pushing you to take Lisa out freshman year! I didn’t know!”

“It’s ok. Living in Kansas in the eighties and early nineties, we kept things on the down low so neither of us would get hurt. I’d have killed anyone that touched so much as a single hair on Cas’ head.” Dean took his husband’s hand and threaded their fingers together. Castiel smiled happily at him.

“So, do you have a family? Where are you guys living now?” Benny asked.

“We have two children. Our son, Ethan, is four and our daughter, Amanda, is seven. We live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dean teaches at Harvard; I’m a dean over at MIT,” Castiel replied. Dean already had his phone out and was pulling up pictures of their children. Lisa even stepped closer to look.

“Wow, they’re beautiful. Cas, Amanda really looks like you,” she murmured.

“She is biologically mine. Charlie actually carried her for us. Later she carried Ethan, who is biologically Dean’s,” he explained.

“That explains that ‘up to no good’ look on his face, and those same green eyes.” Benny said with a laugh. Dean grinned.

“He’s a mini me. Drives Cas nuts sometimes, especially at night when it’s time to brush his teeth and go to bed. He tries to negotiate his way out of anything he doesn’t want to do.” Castiel nodded in agreement, rolling his eyes and giving an exaggerated sigh.

“The boy will be the death of me.”

“What about you, Lis? You married? Any kids of your own?” Dean asked. She smiled but there was a sadness in her eyes.

“I have a son, Ben. He’s twenty now. I was never married.”

“Wow, twenty. Is he in college?” 

“He is. He’s actually going to be transferring to MIT next year. He’s majoring in computer engineering,” she replied.

“Say, where’s Charlie? How has she been?” Benny asked.

“Charlie is supposed to meet us here. She’s bringing her wife,” Dean replied. Benny blinked and looked over at Lisa, who seemed equally surprised.

“She’s gay too?”

“She’s not my biological sister, remember?” Dean reminded him. 

“Right, right. It’s just always felt as though she was.”

“And to answer your question, yes, she is gay,” Castiel added.

“Charlie and her wife, Gilda, live about a half hour from us. They have three cats, two dogs, and a son named Christopher that Gilda came into the marriage with. He’s seventeen now. They met sixteen years ago and got married a year later. Sammy’s married, too, to his college sweetheart, Jessica. They have two little girls and Jess is due with their third, a boy. Mom and dad are doing well too. So are Cas’ parents. Oh, and Anna’s married to Trenton Gore, the country singer.” Dean was ticking off the people in his head that he knew Benny would have remembered. A nasally voice bursting into laughter across the room caught everyone’s attention. They all turned to see Alistair standing with a thin blonde woman, and a man that if Dean didn’t know any better, he would say it was Crowley. 

“Fuck, he’s here?” he asked bitterly.

“If he’s here, and he’s still with Meg…” Castiel frowned and looked around the banquet hall that had been rented for the evening.

“He’s not with Meg. She dumped him right after high school.” Andrea was still listening to their conversation, even as she welcomed new guests.

“Meg was at our reunion last year. She was...somewhat pleasant. At least she acknowledged my existence,” Castiel said dryly. Dean snorted.

“Yeah, only took her twenty five years.”

“Whatever became of her?” Lisa asked.

“I didn’t really talk to her, but I did talk to Ash. It was good seeing him. He’s working for NASA, on computers, by the way. He did speak to her. She works for a law firm, is single, divorced, no kids. That’s about all I learned, and I never even asked that much.” Castiel chuckled. “Ash just loves to volunteer information. Kept in touch with him after high school.”

“I can’t believe you married Cas. Well, maybe I can, actually. You guys were always with each other. I feel like I should have known, should have figured it out,” Benny said, shaking his head. 

“We kept it out of school because of guys like Alistair. I promised Cas I’d never let anyone hurt him, and I kept that promise. We really didn’t relax and let ourselves just...be until we were in California. Out there things were way different than here and we were able to go out on dates, hold hands, that kind of stuff. We fell in love all over again as we settled into college life.” Dean leaned over and kissed his husband’s cheek, smiling as the man’s cheeks blushed. Castiel smiled warmly at him, his eyes filled with love and devotion.

“What’s up bitches!” 

They all turned to see Charlie walking in, arms extended as she made her grand entrance. Benny’s jaw dropped when he saw her swollen belly.

“She’s pregnant?”

“Yep, it’s hers and Gilda’s first together. They’re super excited,” Dean replied. 

“Dean’s the biological father. I will be the biological father for their next child,” Castiel said proudly.

Charlie checked in with Andrea before waddling over to them. The event was semi-formal, and Charlie had somewhat complied. She wore a bright green sequined dress with white leggings and black Converse sneakers. A woman with long blonde hair pulled back in a classy chignon was trailing behind her. Dean and Castiel both turned to give each of them a hug and a kiss.

“How was the drive?” Dean asked.

“Longer than expected since Char had to use the bathroom about every hundred miles,” Gilda laughed.

“Hey, I’m carrying your kid. No complaints!” Charlie rubbed her belly and smiled at her wife.

“When are you due?” Benny asked as he gave her a hug.

End of next month. Feels like I’ve been pregnant forever. It didn’t feel this long with the first two. I guess this one’s just being stubborn because it’s mine,” she replied, grinning. Dean and Castiel both laughed and shook their heads.

“Hi, Charlie, not sure you remember me.” Lisa offered a hand, and Charlie smiled as she shook it.

“I remember you, Lisa. You chased after my brother since freshman year,” Charlie joked. Lisa laughed and nodded.

“I suppose I did. I had no idea Castiel had stolen his heart years before I ever met him. I’m happy for them though, and for you. Dean has been catching us up some. He says you live out by him, and you have a son.”

“Sure do. Chris is a junior in high school. Sassy little shit, but he gets that from me,” Charlie said with a laugh.

“It’s true. He’s so much like her it’s scary.” Gilda smiled at her wife, who leaned in, puckering her lips for the kiss Gilda happily gave.

“What do you two do?” Benny asked.

“Gilda’s a judge, and I teach three different computer classes over at MIT,” Charlie replied.

“Oh, then you might have my son next year. He’s transferring there for computers. Ben Braeden,” Lisa said.

“I’ll keep an eye out for him,” Charlie promised.

Andrea was relieved by another girl they had graduated with, Becky Rosen, now Becky Gillen, and came to join in their conversation. The next half hour was spent talking and showing pictures of their kids. Dean stiffened when Alistair and the blonde woman walked over.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Dean Winchester and his partner in crime, Castiel. Didn’t you graduate the year _before_ us?” he asked, looking directly at Castiel.

“He did, but he’s here with me. We’re married,” Dean said stiffly. He hoped Alistair had grown up and was no longer the douchebag he’d been twenty years ago. Alistair grinned.

“Like I didn’t see that one coming. Where you guys living?”

Dean relaxed and filled the man in on his and Castiel’s life up til then. In return he learned that Alistair had gone into the ministry after earning a degree in religious studies at his father’s insistence. About ten years earlier he had moved from his father’s strict church and taken on a position as head minister at a more open and accepting church in New York. He had four kids between the ages of fifteen and six and the blonde on his arm was his wife of seventeen years, Lilith. 

“I’m sorry I was a dick to you both back in high school. I was going through a lot of stuff at home, and I was taking it out on other people. My home life was a living hell. I couldn’t wait to get away from my dad. I really never had anything against gay people. I still don’t. I do hope you’ll forgive me for being such a jerk back then,” Alistair told them.

Dean was genuinely shocked by Alistair’s complete turnaround. He looked and sounded sincere, and Dean didn’t like holding a grudge.

“Who’s watching your kids?” Andrea asked Dean and Castiel.

“Oh, they came with us. Currently my mother has them and is delightedly speaking to them in Russian. She was so excited that I taught them,” Castiel replied.

“His folks are still in the same house and so are mine. They spend a lot of time together. I’m sure my parents are over at their house playing with the kids too. They miss getting to watch them grow up because we live so far away. Mom flies out to see us all about three times a year, and at Christmas Dad comes too,” Dean said.

“And my parents come in for a week at Thanksgiving. They would come in at Christmas except the rest of my siblings come to their house. Gabe and Naomi, my older brother and sister are still in Kansas. My brother Mike lives in Chicago and my younger sister Anna lives in Nashville, but they all head home for Christmas,” Castiel added.

“Our kids are here with us too; they’re with Benny’s mother. His dad died last year,” Andrea said.

“I’m sorry to hear that, man. Your dad was a cool guy.” Dean patted his friend’s arm, and Benny smiled tightly. It was still a tender subject.

“Thank you. My mom loves spending time with the kids. She’s actually going to be selling the house and moving closer to us soon. The kids are excited since she spoils them rotten.” 

As the evening wore on, Dean reacquainted himself with dozens of his former classmates. Garth came with his wife, Helen; Victor came alone. Crowley, whom they had seen earlier, came over to talk and they learned he was on his third wife and had five kids between them. It came as no surprise that most of them recognized Castiel, or how many of them had expected that he and Dean would end up together. All in all it was a pleasant evening for them both, and Dean made sure to get as many phone numbers and Facebook addresses as he could before he and his husband finally left for the night. On the drive back to Mary and John’s house, Dean took his husband’s hand.

“Our lives turned out good, don’t you think?” he asked. Castiel smiled and nodded in agreement.

“I think they turned out exactly like I had always dreamed. I think that even from that early age when we first met, I knew you were the one for me.” 

Dean chuckled. “I doubt either of us knew at that age, but by the time we finally told one another how we felt, I think I knew you were it. No one else ever measured up to you. I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

Castiel’s heart swelled with love for his husband, as it so often did in moments like this. He loved Dean as much as he had the first time they’d said those words, and the first time they had exchanged their vows. He would love Dean until his last dying breath.

“I love you, Dean. I always will.”

Dean kissed the back of his husband’s hand. “I love you too, babe. Always have, always will.” 

By the time they reached Mary and John’s house, the rain was really starting to come down. It reminded Dean of the day he had met Castiel. The sad, frightened boy cowering under the neighbor’s tree, trying not to get soaked while waiting for the school bus. It had been a combination of curiosity as to who the new boy was, proper manners ingrained from years of his mother teaching him to help those in need, and wondering if maybe he could make a new friend which had spurred him into going outside early that morning. He’d never have guessed as he ran out to the bus stop to meet the new boy standing there that he would be meeting the man he would come to fall in love with and want to spend the rest of his life with. He parked the car and grabbed the umbrella he had tossed in the backseat.

“Stay in car until I come around to your side.” He ordered. Castiel waited patiently for Dean to come around and open his door. He stayed dry thanks to his husband as he got out of the car. It made him smile, even to this day at all of the little ways in which Dean showed how much he loved him and cared about him.

“This reminds me of the first day we met.” Castiel said as he slipped an arm around Dean’s waist.

“I told you that day, I’ll cover you. I meant it then, and I mean it now. Always and forever, Cas.” Dean spoke in earnest and Castiel could hear everything his husband wasn’t saying in those words. Every day Dean told him he loved him, every day he showed it. 

“You know, forever is a long time.” Castiel said as they climbed the stairs. Once they were under the covered porch Dean closed the umbrella and smiled at his husband.

“It is, but getting to be with you and love you like I do, it would never be long enough.”

**Author's Note:**

> I do hope you liked this story. Comments are always welcome. Thank you for reading!
> 
>  
> 
> ALL CHAPTERS WILL BE UP TODAY


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